Northwestern Terra
Cotta Company collection of visual materials, ca. 1910-1930
Descriptive Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum
By Elizabeth Reilly, 2009
Please
address questions to:
Chicago
History Museum, Research Center
1601 North Clark
Street
Chicago, IL
60614-6038
Telephone:
312-642-4600
Web-site:
www.chicagohistory.org/research
© Copyright 2009, Chicago Historical Society
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Title: Northwestern Terra Cotta Company collection of
visual materials, ca. 1910-1930.
Main entry: Northwestern Terra Cotta Company
Inclusive dates: ca. 1910-1930
Size: 13 boxes, 2 folders
Call number: 2008.0155.2
PPL
646 photographic prints : b&w ; 22 x 18 in. and smaller
474 photographic prints : b&w ; 11 x 14 in. and smaller
3 albums (photographic prints) : b&w ; 11.25 x 16 in. and smaller
2 portfolios (24 plates) : b&w ; 11 x 14 in.
Call number: 2008.0155.2
PCP-242
43 photographic prints: col. ; 8 x 10 in. and smaller
Call number: 2008.0155.2
PCT
83 transparencies : col., slide ; 35 mm.
35 transparencies : col. ; 8 x 10 in. and smaller
Call number: 2008.0155.2
PFL
1 photographic print : b&w, hand-colored ; 7.5 x 32 in.
Call number: 2008.0155.2
PNG
Non-graphic material (news clippings, memos, photocopies of photographs on album pages before disassembled)
Restriction: Advance appointment required to view color materials in cold storage.
Accession numbers: 2000.0201, 2008.0155.2
Provenance
statement: Gift of Ms. Grace Kristiansen (2000.0201) and the Grace
Kristiansen Trust (2008.0155).
Terms governing use: Copyright may be retained by the creators
of items, or their descendents, as stipulated by United States copyright law,
unless otherwise noted.
Please cite this collection as: Northwestern Terra Cotta Company collection of visual materials, ca. 1910-1930 (Chicago History Museum).
This descriptive inventory contains the
following sections:
Biographical/historical
note,
Summary
description of the collection,
Description
of some material related to the collection,
List of
online catalog headings about the collection,
Arrangement
of the collection,
Detailed
description of archival series in the collection,
List of
contents of the collection.
Biographical/historical note:
Northwestern Terra Cotta Company (NWTC) was Chicago's largest manufacturer of architectural terra cotta ornament. With headquarters at 1750 Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago, NWTC operated from ca. 1877 until its last factory, located in Denver, Colorado, closed its doors in 1965. The firm was a leader in development of the architectural terra cotta industry and provided decorative building elements for numerous Chicago buildings, including the Wrigley Building, Chicago Theatre, and Civic Opera House.
Summary description of the collection:
Photographs of
terra-cotta products and many of the buildings for which Northwestern Terra
Cotta Company (NWTC) products were used; views and portraits of NWTC plants and
workers, designers, modelers, and executives; and other miscellaneous
materials. A few black-and-white photographs have hand-coloring to indicate
glazes used on the molded decorative items, and many photographs have
handwritten annotations. Many photographs of buildings with terra-cotta
decoration made by NWTC are identified by name, location, architectural firm,
and descriptions of the types of materials and glazes used by NWTC. Some
photographs of terra cotta architectural ornaments are identified with job
number and name of the building for which they were created.
Other items in the collection include photographs of Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) used as reference for creating terra cotta murals for the Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma (also pictured); photographs of sculptures by Edgardo Simone (1890-1948), including a few portraits of the sculptor with his work; photographs of panels made for the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colorado; a hand-colored photograph of a panoramic terra cotta mural depicting Aesop's Fables, created for a school in Kalamazoo, Michigan; an original design of a tile mural for the Isaly Dairy Plant in Youngstown, Ohio, by artist Carlo Ciampaglia (1891-1975); portfolios of 12 plates entitled, Portfolio of Architectural Ornament Vol. 1 Modern; and a scrapbook of photographs entitled: Alleged failures of building materials. Non-graphic materials include news clippings, memos, and photocopies of photographs on album pages before being disassembled for preservation.
Description of some material related to the
collection:
Related
materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Northwestern
Terra Cotta Company records and several publications and newsletters cataloged
by title.
List of online catalog headings about the
collection:
The following headings were placed in the online catalog for this
collection.
Subjects:
Northwestern Terra Cotta Company--Photographs.
Wrigley Building (Chicago, Ill.)
Aesop's fables--Pictorial works.
Buildings--Illinois--Chicago--1900-1960.
Buildings--United States--1900-1960.
Decoration and ornament, Architectural--1900-1960.
Decoration and ornament, Architectural--Illinois--Chicago--1900-1960.
Designers--Illinois--Chicago--1900-1960.
Terra-cotta--Illinois--Chicago--1900-1960.
Terra-cotta industry--United States--1900-1960.
Terra-cotta sculpture--1900-1960.
Chicago (Ill.)--Buildings, structures, etc.--1900-1960.
United States--Buildings, structures, etc.--1900-1960.
Forms/genre:
Gelatin silver prints.
Group portraits.
Illustrations.
Photograph albums.
Photographic prints--Color.
Photomechanical prints.
Photomechanical prints--Color.
Portrait photographs.
Slides--Color.
Transparencies--Color.
List of contents of the collection:
Call#: 2008.155.2 PPL:
black & white photographs, 8 x 10
in. and smaller (box 1-5):
Box 1 Modern
copy print photographs of NWTC plant, artisans, architectural ornaments, buildings,
ca. 1900-1920s (77 items)
Box 2 Architectural ornaments & Chicago buildings, ca. 1900-1920s (57 items)
Folders
1 Decorative terra cotta panels: 36 items
2 Ashland Block building: 1 item
3 4036-4042 N. Ashland Ave: 2 items
4 20 E. Cedar Street: 2 items
5 Fullerton Avenue: 2 items
6 S.W. corner Fullerton & Kenneth: 2 items
7 1502 Jarvis Avenue: 1 item
8 442 N. LaSalle Street: 1 item
9 4531-4537 N. Pauling Street: 4 items
10 3356 W. Roosevelt Road: 1 item
11 Sunnyside & Malden: 1 item
12 1144-1148 Milwaukee Avenue: 1 item
13 S.E. corner Washington & Menard: 1 item
14 State-Lake building: 1 item
15 Uptown theatre: 1 item
Box 3 NWTC work in buildings outside of Chicago in U.S. states: "A"-"L" (57 items)
Folders
1 Aladdin theatre (Denver, Col.): 2 items
2 Denver churches: 8 items
3 Mountain States Telephone Company: 1 item
4 Sindelar building, 6140 W. 26th Street (Cicero, Ill.): 1 item
5 Store, 605 Davis Street (Evanston, Ill.): 1 item
6 Montgomery Ward Company (Galesburg, Ill.): 1 item
7 North & Lombard (Oak Park, Ill.): 2 items
8 Clark & Co. (Peoria, Ill.): 1 item
9 Hotel Pere Marquette (Peoria, Ill.): 9 items
10 Medical Arts building (Oak Park, Ill.): 4 items
11 Sweeney school: 2 items
12 Indianapolis Athletic Club (Indianapolis, Ind.): 1 item
13 Olin-Wilmeth Co. (Indianapolis, Ind.): 2 items
14 F.D. Miller building (Kokomo, Ind.): 1 item
15 Richmond-Leland hotel (Richmond, Ind.): 5 items
16 State Line Generating Co. (Hammond, Ind.): 3 items
17 Hotel Roosevelt (Cedar Rapids, Iowa): 2 items
18 Municipal building (Leavenworth, Kan.): 1 item
19 Santa Fe R.R. Office building (Topeka, Kan.): 1 item
20 Kosair temple (Louisville, Ky.): 1 item
21 Cloverland Dairy Products Co. (New Orleans, La.): 8 items
Box 4 NWTC work in buildings outside of Chicago in U.S. states: "M" (66 items)
Folders
1 Detroit Fire Dept. (Detroit, Mich.): 4 items
2 David Whitney building (Detroit, Mich.): 2 items
3 Clara Scherer building (Detroit, Mich.): 4 items
4 Banker's Trust Co. (Detroit, Mich.): 1 item
5 Fine Arts building (Grand Rapids, Mich.): 3 items
6 Nurses lodge, Butterworth Hosp. (Grand Rapids, Mich.): 2 items
7 Gately's store (Detroit, Mich.): 2 items
8 Detroit, Mich. (Book Tower, gas station): 2 items
9 Baden Bank (St. Louis, Mo.): 6 items
10 Kansas City Athletic Club (Kansas City, Mo.): 1 item
11 Main Street Theatre (Kansas City, Mo.): 1 item
12 Orpheum Theatre (Kansas City, Mo.): 4 items
13 Palace Clothing Co. (Kansas City, Mo.): 1 item
14 Pioneer Trust Co. building (Kansas City, Mo.): 1 item
15 Price building (Kansas City, Mo.): 3 items
16 Professional building (Kansas City, Mo.): 5 items
17 Southwestern Bell Telephone (Kansas City, Mo.): 2 items
18 Tower Building, Spanish Plaza (Kansas City, Mo.): 1 item
19 Kirkwood S.W. Bell Tel. Co. (Kirkwood, Mo.): 3 items
20 U.S. post office (Sedalia, Mo.): 4 items
21 Gillioz theater (Springfield, Mo.): 1 items
22 J.F. Dickman real estate Co. (St. Louis, Mo.): 3 items
23 Highland Central office building (St. Louis, Mo.): 3 items
24 C.E. Vrooman residence (St. Louis, Mo.): 6 items
Box 5 NWTC work in buildings outside of Chicago in U.S. states: "N"-"W" (76 items)
Folders
1 Omaha Union passenger station (Omaha, Neb.): 5 items
2 YMCA building (Akron, Ohio): 1 item
3 Union Central Life Insurance Co. (Cincinnati, Ohio): 19 items
4 Union Trust building (Cincinnati, Ohio): 2 items
5 H.A. Kangesser building (Cleveland, Ohio): 2 items
6 Schofield building (Cleveland, Ohio): 1 item
7 Tatra Savings & Loan Co. (Cleveland, Ohio): 2 items
8 Walnut Building (Cleveland, Ohio): 1 item
9 Chittenden hotel (Columbus, Ohio): 5 items
10 Montgomery Ward (Columbus, Ohio): 5 items
11 Richland bank (Mansfield, Ohio): 4 items
12 Stambaugh-Thompson Co. (Youngstown, Ohio): 2 items
13 Atlas Life Insurance Co. (Tulsa, Okla.): 1 item
14 First National Bank (Tulsa, Okla.): 1 item
15 Municipal airport (Tulsa, Okla.): 2 items
16 Lowenstein's department store (Memphis, Tenn.): 2 items
17 Memphis Cotton Exchange (Memphis, Tenn.): 1 item
18 Memphis Steam Laundry (Memphis, Tenn.): 3 items
19 Peabody hotel (Memphis, Tenn.): 3 items
20 Corpus Christi Trust Co. (Corpus Christi, Tex.): 1 item
21 Gray County court house (Pampa, Tex.): 2 items
22 State Capital building (Salt Lake City, Utah): 1 item
23 American National Bank (Milwaukee, Wis.): 2 items
24 Kunzelman-Esser Co. store (Milwaukee, Wis.): 2 items
25 Riverside pumping station (Milwaukee, Wis.): 1 item
26 Schroeder hotel (Milwaukee, Wis.): 2 items
27 Strauss building (Milwaukee, Wis.): 2 items
28 Wisconsin Telephone Co. (Milwaukee, Wis.): 1 item
Call#: 2008.155.2 PPL continued
Box 6 NWTC work in buildings outside of Chicago (51 items, 11 x 14 in. and smaller)
Folders
1 Telocvina Jednota Sokol Slavsky of Cicero (Cicero, Ill.): 3 items
2 Main Street hotel (Evanston, Ill.): 2 items
3 Rubin's department store (Waukegan, Ill.): 3 items
4 Equitable Life Insurance Co. of Iowa (Des Moines, Iowa): 2 items
5 Buhl building (Detroit, Mich.): 3 items
6 First National Bank building (Kalamazoo, Mich.): 2 items
7 Ford building (Detroit, Mich.): 2 items
8 Michigan Bell Telephone (Detroit, Mich.): 1 item
9 Fox Theatre (St. Louis, Mo.): 3 items
10 Father Flanagan's Boys Home (Boys Town, Neb.): 4 items
11 World Theatre (Omaha, Neb.): 7 items
12 Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio): 1 item
13 Cook Realty & Investment Co. (Cleveland, Ohio): 2 items
14 General Tire Co. (Cleveland, Ohio): 2 items
15 Goodyear service station (Cleveland, Ohio): 7 items
16 Studebaker building (Cleveland, Ohio): 1 item
17 Apartment building (Columbus, Ohio): 2 items
18 S.S. Kresge Building (Columbus, Ohio): 4 items
Box 7 NWTC work in buildings in Chicago, Ill., and nearby (90 items, 11 x 14 in. and smaller)
Folders
1 Miscellaneous Chicago buildings: 14 items
2 Broadway Motor Sales: 1 item
3 Sam Burnstein, 1731-5 W. Chicago Avenue: 1 item
4 Chicago Theatre: 3 items
5 Chicago Title-Trust Co.: 1 item
6 Apartment building, Drexel Blvd & 49th Street: 1 item
7 19 Street apartment building: 3 items
8 Evanston Motor Sales, Ridge Ave. (Evanston, Ill.): 3 items
9 Apartment building, 401 Fullerton Parkway: 3 items
10 2542 S. Michigan Avenue: 1 item
11 Apartment building, S.W. corner Morse & Greenview: 1 item
12 Northshore Theatre, 1749-1771 Howard Street: 2 items
13 Apartment building, 542-544 N. Pine Avenue: 2 items
14 Hotel St. Clair, Ohio & St. Clair Street: 3 items
15 Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, Kimbark Ave. near 55th St.: 3 items
16 Jonathan Young Scammon School, Henderson St. & Keeler Ave.: 4 items
17 Selwyn & Harris theatres: 6 items
18 Seneca hotel, Chestnut & Seneca Streets: 1 item
19 Sheridan Beach hotel, Chase & Sheridan Road: 2 items
20 Sherman hotel: 1 item
21 Shoreland hotel, 5450 S. Shore Drive: 3 items
22 Southmoor hotel: 4 items
23 Roger Sullivan Jr. High School, North Shore & Bosworth: 1 item
24 Stockman's Trust & Savings Bank, Garfield Blvd. & S. Halsted: 2 items
Box 8 Photographs of works by sculptor Edgardo Simone, including three portraits of the artist with his sculptures (82 photographs, 8 x 10 in. and smaller)
Box 9 NWTC buildings, employees, garden pottery, Booker T. Washington, Mother Cabrini Shrine, and fire test results (156 items, 8 x 10 in. and smaller)
Folders
1 Snapshot and group portrait photographs removed from an album; many people identified on print versos: 21 items
2 Photographs of architectural models, building exteriors and school interiors: 14 items
3 Booker T. Washington School (Tulsa, Okla.): 7 items
4 Booker T. Washington: 8 items
5 Garden pottery: 19 items
6 Mother Cabrini Shrine (Colorado): 14 items
7 Oklahoma buildings: 28 items
8 Terra cotta research testing: 39 items
9 Texas buildings: 6 items
Box 10 NWTC buildings, plant, workers, terra cotta panels, modeling, and ornaments (230 items, 11 x 14 in. and smaller)
Folders:
1 Photomechanical reproductions: 4 items
2 NWTC buildings and plants: 45 items
3 Miscellaneous (Chicago, Ill.): 15 items
4 Miscellaneous buildings: 59 items
5 Miscellaneous (photographs of men working on building exterior, removed from a scrapbook): 23 items
6 Miscellaneous buildings (photographs removed from a binder): 42 items
7 Modeling: 42 items
Box 11 Scrapbook albums (3 volumes, 12 x 16 in. and smaller)
Volumes:
1 Photographs of NWTC decorative moldings: 23 items
2 Alleged failures of building materials: approx. 150 items
3 Modern Stock: approx. 140 items
Box 12 Portfolios, mounted and oversized photographs (40 items, 16 x 21 in. and smaller)
folders
1 Our Lady of Good Councel church: 1 item
2 Building exterior: 1 photograph mounted to board
3 Building and columns exterior: 1 item
4 Ancient Doorway, by A.E. Howarth: 1 print
5 The Progress Club of the Northwester Terra Cotta Company, 1925: 1 composite photograph
6 Portfolio of Architectural Ornament Vol. 1 Modern: 10 plates
7 Portfolio of Architectural Ornament Vol. 1 Modern: 12 plates, 1 item
8 Terra Cotta panels depicting various athletics: 8 items
9 Building exterior: 1 photograph mounted to board
10 Aerial view of terra cotta plant: 1 item
11 Aesop's Fables terra cotta panel (Kalamazoo, Mich.): 1 photograph mounted to board
12 Tile mural for the Isaly Dairy Plant by Carlo Ciampaglia: 1 hand-painted illustration
Call#: 2008.155.2
PCP-242 (Color items in 1 box)
Box 1 NWTC buildings, decorative panels, employees & executives (152 items, 8 x 10 in. and smaller)
folders
1 Color prints: 40 items, 3 x 5 in. and smaller
2 Color slides: 83 slides, 35 mm.
3 Color transparencies: 26 transparencies, 8 x 10 in. and smaller
4 Color prints, 8 x 10: 3 items, 8 x 10 in.
Call#: 2008.155.2 PFL
Panoramic photograph, hand-colored, of Aesop's Fables terra cotta mural (7 1/2 x 32 in.)
Call#: 2008.155.2 (1
folder)
Folder 1 Non-graphic materials (newspaper clippings, handwritten notes, memos, photocopies of photo album pages before being disassembled, etc.) relating to NWTC photographs.