There are more extant buildings ornamented with American-made terracotta from the 1850s in Charleston, South Carolina, than in any other location in the United States. Eight structures have been identified thus far, and pieces of ornament from another have been salvaged. The terracotta on these buildings was manufactured in Worcester, Massachusetts, by the earliest known American firm. What led Charleston architects to contact this particular firm and take an early interest in a relatively fragile material that needed to be carefully crated and shipped a long distance from New England—sometimes with disastrous results—is unclear.
In 1848–1849 Henry Tolman Jr. established a business in Worcester manufacturing ready-made terracotta ornament. He was influenced to do so by Elbridge Boyden, an innovative local architect. Tolman joined with Jonathan Luther in 1851 to form Tolman, Luther and Company for the exclusive manufacture of architectural terracotta. Boyden, through his firm, Boyden and Ball, served as an agent for the sale of this material. By 1853 Tolman was joined by Samuel Hathaway and William Stone, and the company became Tolman, Hathaway and Stone. Exterior architectural terracotta ornament was first supplied for a number of Worcester buildings designed by Elbridge Boyden. It was later used for various buildings throughout New England and as far away as Philadelphia and Charleston, South Carolina.
The earliest known order for Worcester terracotta for a building in Charleston was placed in 1850 by Edward Brickell White, the city’s leading architect. Records indicate that he contacted Boyden, ordering material for porticoes he had designed for two educational institutions: Corinthian capitals for the High School of Charleston (1840–1842, White), 55 Society Street, and Ionic capitals for the College of Charleston (1828, William Strickland), 66 George Street (fig. 1).[1] The high school’s terracotta was damaged in the earthquake of 1886 and subsequently removed (later replaced with replicas of the capitals). The earthquake also damaged the college, but there the terracotta survives, and a recent examination (using binoculars) of the Ionic capitals (fig. 2) yielded a surprising discovery: upside down on one of the capitals is an oval stamp that reads: “MANUFACTURES, TOLMAN, LUTHER & CO., CANAL STREET, WORCESTER, MASS.” (fig. 3). Because it was standard practice in this era for terracotta to be painted, it is doubtful that the manufacturer had any expectation of its stamp being visible (it is unknown at what point the paint was removed). This is the only known surviving example from this company.
Contemporary accounts in the Charleston Courier—cited in Beatrice St. Julien Ravenel’s 1945 book Architects of Charleston—identified Worcester as the source for the terracotta on the Mills House Hotel (1853, John E. Earle), 115 Meeting Street (fig. 4). The first structure in Charleston with such amenities as running water and steam heat, the hotel’s architectural features and elaborate cast-iron balconies added to its reputation as one of the city’s premier hotels and most impressive structures. Otis Mills, the hotel’s owner, was a Massachusetts native, and John Earle may have been connected with Elbridge Boyden in Worcester.[2] This 5-story, 125-room hotel, with its numerous terracotta window pediments and lintels, probably featured the most extensive execution of terracotta ornament on an American building to that time.[3] Ravenel noted that “‘Mr. Hathaway of Worcester, Mass.’ . . . furnished the terra-cotta window cornices and pediments. These were considered fireproof and created a furor, so that similar ones were placed on houses all over the city.”[4] In 1968 the greatly deteriorated Mills House Hotel was demolished and reconstructed, but at least one original window lintel and several brackets were salvaged (fig. 5).
There are seven extant buildings in Charleston with Worcester terracotta, showing the direct influence of the Mills House Hotel. In 1853 one of them, the Governor John Rutledge House (ca. 1763), 116 Broad Street, was either replaced or remodeled and enlarged by architect P. H. Hammarskold (fig. 6). The elaborate second-story window pediments found on the front facade (fig. 7) are identical to those originally found on the Harrington Corner Block (ca. 1849, Boyden) in Worcester (fig. 8). In the early 1970s the ornamentation on the Harrington building was removed, but Susan McDaniel Ceccacci, a local architectural historian who did pioneering work on Boyden and the Tolman firm, salvaged several pieces that are now in the collection of the Worcester Historical Museum. The museum also owns a copy of an 1852 Tolman, Luther and Company catalog, which shows a window bracket identical to those found on the Rutledge House (fig. 9).[5] Charleston’s “Bee’s Row,” the five rowhouses at 101–109 Bull Street (ca. 1853–1854, architect unknown), and the Smith Building (ca. 1801–1815, Hugh Smith; alteration mid-1850s), 15 Broad Street, also display this bracket. In addition, the Smith Building’s top-story window lintels match the salvaged lintel from the Mills House Hotel.
Three other important Charleston buildings are known to have incorporated architectural terracotta in the 1850s that did not survive the 1886 earthquake. The Unitarian Church (1772–1787), 6 Archdale Street, was remodeled in 1852–1854 by Jones and Lee, who incorporated Gothic terracotta pinnacles from Worcester on the tower and buttresses (fig. 10).[6] A similar pinnacle by the Tolman firm was illustrated in a publication on the 1853 Crystal Palace Exhibition of All Nations in New York (fig. 11).[7] The Unitarian Church survives, but the terracotta was removed after the earthquake. Ravenel quoted an article in the Charleston Courier that mentioned the terracotta on the Charleston Club (1853–1854, Barbot and Seyle; demolished), Meeting Street, as being “somewhat in the style of the Mills House.”[8] And the Guard House (1838–1839, Charles F. Reichardt; demolished), the city’s police station, also on Meeting Street, was fashionably updated with terracotta window ornament when its front colonnade was removed in 1856.[9]
It is difficult to ascertain just how widespread the use of terracotta was in Charleston in the 1850s since so few relevant records have come to light. Also, since most of the buildings of the period have been repainted, very close examination and/or invasive procedures are necessary to determine the actual historic material. Given Charleston’s history of natural disasters, the existence of eight buildings ornamented with very early American terracotta is impressive and adds considerably to the city’s stature as the municipal pioneer in American historic preservation. Future research may yield more examples of terracotta in Charleston and in the South.
Susan Tunick, Friends of Terra Cotta; pstunick@worldnet.att.net
Jay Shockley, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission; jshockley@lpc.nyc.gov
