Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a ceramic masonry building material used as a decorative skin. It has been popular in the United States from the late 19th century until the 1930s, and still one of the most common building materials found in U.S. urban environments. It is the glazed version of architectural terracotta; the material in both its glazed and unglazed versions is sturdy and relatively inexpensive, and can be molded into richly ornamented detail. Glazed terra-cotta played a significant role in architectural styles such as the Chicago School and Beaux-Arts architecture.
The Reliance Building is a skyscraper located at 1 W. Washington Street in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The first floor and basement were designed by John Root of the Burnham and Root architectural firm in 1890, with the rest of the building completed by Charles B. Atwood in 1895. It is the first skyscraper to have large plate glass windows make up the majority of its surface area, foreshadowing a design feature that would become dominant in the 20th century.
The National Farmers' Bank of Owatonna, Minnesota, United States, is a historic bank building designed by Louis Sullivan, with decorative elements by George Elmslie. It was built in 1908, and was the first of Sullivan's "jewel box" bank designs. The building is clad in red brick with green terra cotta bands, and features two large arches on its street-facing facades. Single-story wings, originally housing bank offices, extend along each side. Internal elements include two stained-glass windows designed by Louis J. Millet, a mural by Oskar Gross, and four immense cast iron electroliers designed by Elmslie and cast by Winslow Brothers Company.
The First National Bank Building, also known as the First National Building, is a Romanesque Revival building in Ann Arbor, Michigan designed by the local architectural firm of Fry and Kasurin. It stands at 201-205 South Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 24, 1982.
The Marquette Building, completed in 1895, is a Chicago landmark that was built by the George A. Fuller Company and designed by architects Holabird & Roche. The building is currently owned by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. It is located in the community area known as the "Loop" in Cook County, Illinois, United States.
The Krause Music Store, a National Historic landmark building, is a 1922 structure and the final work of architect Louis Sullivan. It is the last of the 126 buildings designed by Sullivan. In coining the phrase "form follows function", Sullivan believed that the function of a building gave rise to its form and that the two should work in concert with each other to be beautiful.
The Van Allen Building, also known as Van Allen and Company Department Store, is a historic commercial building at Fifth Avenue and South Second Street in Clinton, Iowa. The four-story building was designed by Louis Sullivan and commissioned by John Delbert Van Allen. Constructed 1912–1914 as a department store, it now has upper floor apartments with ground floor commercial space. The exterior has brick spandrels and piers over the structural steel skeletal frame. Terra cotta is used for horizontal accent banding and for three slender, vertical applied mullion medallions on the front facade running through three stories, from ornate corbels at the second-floor level to huge outbursts of vivid green terra cotta foliage in the attic. There is a very slight cornice. Black marble facing is used around the glass show windows on the first floor. The walls are made of long thin bricks in a burnt gray color with a tinge of purple. Above the ground floor all the windows are framed by a light gray terra cotta. The tile panels in Dutch blue and white pay tribute to Mr. Van Allen's Dutch heritage of which he was quite proud.. The Van Allen Building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 for its architecture.
The Reebie Storage Warehouse was built for the Reebie Storage and Moving Co. in Chicago, Illinois, in 1922. Located at 2325 North Clark Street #300 in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, it is a widely recognized example of Egyptian Revival architecture. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on March 21, 1979, and was designated a Chicago Landmark on September 1, 1999.
The Chapin and Gore Building is a historic building located at 63 East Adams Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The distilling company of Chapin and Gore had the building constructed in 1904 for their business; the original building consisted a first-floor bar and store and offices and warehouse space in the remainder of the building. Architectural partners Richard E. Schmidt and Hugh M. G. Garden designed the building, which has a functional plan but includes substantial ornamentation such as terra cotta and brickwork. The building's ornamental capitals and cornice were removed in the 1950s. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 27, 1979, and later designated as a Chicago Landmark on January 21, 1982.
Schulze Baking Company Plant is a factory building located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located at 40 East Garfield Boulevard in the Washington Park community area in Cook County. Built in 1914, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 12, 1982. Originally built for the Schulze Baking Company, it was the home of the Hostess Brands' Butternut Bread until 2004.
The Vassar Swiss Underwear Company Building is an industrial loft building located at 2545 West Diversey Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It is also known as the Cooper Lamp Building and as of 2010 is slated to house the Green Exchange, a combination business incubator and office space. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, and as of 2010 is being redeveloped into the Green Exchange, a site for small businesses dedicated to natural products and the environment.
The Douglass House is a hotel located at the corner of Shelden Avenue and Isle Royale Street in Houghton, Michigan. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse, Formerly known as The fort Armstrong theater, is an historic building located in downtown Rock Island, Illinois, United States. It opened in 1920 and it was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In 2020 it was included as a contributing property in the Downtown Rock Island Historic District.It was commonly referred to as the Fort Theater. The theater was named for Fort Armstrong, a fortification that sat in the middle of the Mississippi River near the present location of the Rock Island Arsenal. Its Waitstaff, The Bootleggers, are 1 of just 2 performing Waitstaffs in the USA
First National Bank is a historic building located in downtown Ottumwa, Iowa, United States. It is significant for its architectural design and its use of terra cotta for the exterior, the only bank in town so clad. Chicago architect H. H. Stoddard designed the building in the Neoclassical style. It was built by the Blackhawk Construction Company in 1915. The building replaced the original 1868 bank building rebuilt after a fire in 1881, also at this location. The two-story structure features a pediment and two columns flanking the main entrance. The exterior is composed entirely of cream colored terra cotta. Dentil ornamentation is found across the top of the building. Initially the building was a single story with 25-foot (7.6 m) ceilings, but it was altered to its present form in 1956. The glass wall of the main facade was also added at that time. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The Pontiac Building is a historic high-rise building located at 542 S. Dearborn St. in the Printer's Row neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
The Coca-Cola Building is a building located at 1322–1336 S. Wabash Ave. in the Near South Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, which once served as the Chicago headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company. The building was designed by Frank Abbott in the Commercial style and built from 1903 to 1904. When it opened, the building was eight stories high; two additional stories were added in 1913. The building features limestone with iron ornaments on its first two stories; a cornice with a terra cotta fretwork pattern at the top separates the second and third floors. The top of the building features a terra cotta frieze and a cornice with decorative patterns. The Coca-Cola Company operated out of the building from 1904 until 1928; the building was the company's second office outside of Atlanta. The building was the only Coca-Cola syrup manufacturing plant in the Midwest until 1915; it is now the only surviving Coca-Cola plant from before World War II outside of Atlanta.
The Buckingham Building is a 27-story skyscraper located at 59-67 E. Van Buren St. in the Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The building, which opened in 1930, has historically served as a mixed-use retail and office building. Chicago architects Holabird and Root designed the building in the Art Deco style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 10, 2000.
The Maxwell-Briscoe Automobile Company Showroom is a historic automobile showroom located at 1737 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Motor Row District. The showroom was built in 1909 for the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company, which was founded in 1904 by Jonathan D. Maxwell and Benjamin Briscoe. William Ernest Walker, a Chicago architect who specialized in large-scale commercial buildings, designed the showroom. The four-story building is divided by brick piers; the ground floor features large plate-glass windows designed to showcase the company's automobiles, while the upper floors feature banks of double-hung and triple-hung windows between the piers. The building uses terra cotta extensively for decoration; a terra cotta stringcourse encircles the building above the first floor, terra cotta pediments and sills frame the window banks, and a terra cotta frieze runs below the roof line. Maxwell and Briscoe used the building as a showroom until 1915; it is one of the oldest surviving auto showrooms on Motor Row.
The Yondorf Block and Hall is a historic building at 758 W. North Avenue in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The building was built in 1887 to serve as a meeting hall for the various social organizations in Lincoln Park; while its first floor was dedicated to retail space, it had six meeting rooms on its upper floors. Chapters of national fraternal organizations and ethnic clubs formed by immigrants in the neighborhood met in the building, and its largest hall hosted speeches and performances as well. Designed by Frederick Alschlager, the building combines Victorian Gothic and Romanesque Revival elements. While its terra cotta clad storefronts and metal cornice are typical of the former style, its use of decorative brickwork and stone is inspired by the latter.
The Karcher Hotel is a historic hotel building at 405 Washington Street in Waukegan, Illinois. Opened in 1928, the hotel was built during an economic boom in Waukegan; its location near Waukegan's train station and downtown businesses was chosen to attract traveling businesspeople. In addition to renting rooms, the hotel housed commercial and office spaces on its first two floors. Architect B.K. Gibson of Chicago designed the hotel in the Classical Revival style; his design used the tripartite form common to Classical Revival skyscrapers, which included a two-story terra cotta base, a brick shaft, and an upper floor demarcated by terra cotta panels. Other classically inspired elements in the building include its terra cotta frieze, cornice, and parapet along with egg-and-dart and dentil detailing. While the hotel prospered during the Great Depression, it began to suffer economically in the 1960s and would ultimately close in 1981.
