Terra Cotta buildings

Terra Cotta buildings

Our unrivalled expertise in both conservation work and new construction combines traditional craftsmanship and handmade quality with modern innovative techniques, enabling us to offer a keenly competitive service. Shaws of Darwen's capabilities involve operating within an increasingly international marketplace, while maintaining the highest quality terracotta products possible.

Most of the terra cotta buildings constructed between 1905 and 1930 were nine stories tall, built to the property lines, and had deep overhanging cornices. During the first two decades of the century, most terra cotta buildings were office and retail spaces. By the 1920s, residential and institutional buildings were being constructed in terra cotta, as well.

The wall surfaces of many of these structures were faced in brick, with terra cotta tiles used for decorative elements at the storefront level and at the cornices. Some retail-only buildings, however, were faced entirely in glazed terra cotta tiles, which adhered directly to the steel frame.

Much of the terra cotta used in Portland came from Gladding, McBean & Co., based in Lincoln, California, which produced architectural terra cotta for Portland as early as the 1880s. Though stock pieces could be ordered from firms, most of Portland’s terra cotta was custom-made.