OF CLAY

SEPTEMBER' 1926

LOS ANGELES PRESSED BRICK COMPANY

"I am devote to study. Worthy boo\s Are not companions — they are solitudes; We lose ourselves in them and d\\ our cares."

HAPES OF CLAY

Volume ii

Number 8

SEPTEMBER' 1926

Architedtural Progress in Small Buildings

For they say the whole scheme of the town was designed at first by Utopus, but he left all that belonged to the ornament and improvement of it to be added by those that should come after him, that being too much for one man to bring to perfection. Their records, that contain the history of their town and state, are preserved with an exact care, and run bac\ward seventeen hundred and sixty years. From these it appears that their houses were at first low and mean, li\e cottages, made of any sort of timber, and were built with mud walls and thatched with straw. But now their houses are three stories high; the fronts of them are faced either with stone, plastering, or bric\. . . .

— SIR THOMAS MORe's UTOPIA, CIRCA 1516

w:

'HETHER it be true, as the scoiFer alleges, that the modern American business man recogni2;es in art a good business risk; or whether the influence exerted by first'rate architects is responsible; or whether the credit belongs to education which, with its present background of prosperity, has amazingly improved the opportun' ities for culture; or whether a combination of all these circumstances is the cause, a pregnant fadt of progress in this generation is the improve' ment in the design and construction of small buildings.

Indeed, it is not too much to say that American architeca;ure is record' ing achievements as interesting and impressive in the field of small build' ings as in skyscrapers and other monumental structures, memorial, civic, and ecclesiastical.

SHAPES OF CLAY

This is so apparent that a mere backward glance from today to yester' day is sufficient to confirm it. Enlarging the scale of comparison, and look' ing backward a generation, the progress in this realm would be unbeliev able if it were not for the evidence of memory and other more tangible records. The motion pid:ure, for instance, is only three decades old, yet it is old enough to have recorded the transition of the small building from an unsightly, ill'planned structure of bad design, or no design at all, to its present combination of fine art and practicality.

The story of this transition is read in photographs taken, say, twenty years ago. In city, town, and village the change has been so recent, and is so far from complete, that there still remain in every community, as sad- speaking witnesses to America's period of architedtural doldrums, many examples of wooden structures ugly in the atrocity of jig-saw scrollwork and absurd in the mendacity of their high false fronts pretending to be second stories, but deceiving no one.

As a matter of facft, there was no reason why the utilitarian structures of our fathers and grandfathers, whether designed to house stores, banks, small shops, or offices and lofts, should not have been both beautiful and practical. *

That most of such structures are today both beautiful and practical is unquestionably due to the vision, imagination, and courage of architects and owners. The problem is to adapt design and materials to the purpose in view, and to hold stricftly to good workmanship. It could have been solved in the preceding generations, but, except in rare cases, it was not.

Perhaps in the 'eighties and 'nineties men who had the business vision lacked the courage of that vision. Or, having possibly both courage and business vision, they lacked imagination. It is to be suspected, however, that the general run of men in those times of architedtural drabness lacked all of these qualities. It appears to have been not so much a question of bad taste as of no taste at all. Even this seems poor enough excuse for the ill'proportioned, badly modeled, poorly designed buildings that cluttered up the streets and presented eyesores at every hand.

In any case, it seems to have remained for this generation to discover

ARCHITECTURAL PROGRESS IN SMALL BUILDINGS

the true relationship of architecture to the community, not only in its cul- tural asped:s,but in the more practical field of enhanced values. A beautiful building is like a good deed— it is its own reward and sets a good example. A beautiful building not only elevates the tone of its vicinage, it lifts prop- erty values and inspires other owners to emulate its attractiveness. And this is equally true whether the building be large or small. No sane person would doubt that of two stores competing in an identical line of business, the one housed in an artistic and therefore attractive building, would have a tremendous advantage over its neighbor, doing business in a place of ramshackle unsightliness.

Just as the attractive package facilitates the sale of merchandise; just as the effective show-window draws the passer-by within; so does a beauti- ful facade play its part in impressing the public with the integrity and stand- ing of the business behind it, promoting the expectation that what the exterior promises the interior will fulfill. As "the apparel oft proclaims the man," just so a business establishment may express its character in its outer dress.

The broad extent to which this sound principle is applied nowadays is revealed by even a cursory study of the average community, particu- larly on the Pacific Coast. And it is a significant facft that in so many in- stances terra-cotta is chosen as the clothing for small modern buildings no less than for large. This is not a strange thing, nor is the circumstance fortuitous, for there are many advantages to recommend, or even demand, the use of terra-cotta.

From the architect's standpoint, terra-cotta is the ideal exterior-finish material, for with it he can solve any problem in design that may present itself Its plasticity gives full play to his originality when his design calls for terra-cotta of special manufacture, and there is such a wide range of choice in stock terra-cotta that he is not hampered in working out a less ambitious effec±.

The qualities of terra-cotta that recommend it to the owner are ex- tremely practical ones. They are economy (in ultimate cost, light weight, ease of cleaning, etc.), imperviousness to fire, water, and decay, and a

I ' Bullock &? Jones Building, San Francisco Reid Bros., Architecfts

In housing this merchandising firm of traditional excellence the architecfts sought to arrest the attention of men-shoppers

by a combination of elegance and dignity. A French gray terra-cotta of standard finish

from the Lincoln plant of Gladding, McBean 6? Co. was reHed

upon to produce the effed: desired.

II ' Fred T. Wood Building, Oakland Guy L. Brown, Architedt

A note of cheer, almost of gayety, is permissible in a structure devoted to real estate. The terra-cotta of the plane sur- faces is a warm gray pulsichrome, and the background of the ornamentation is a dainty polychrome of bluish green and yellow enamel. The parapet is capped with buff'colored Cordova tile, which, Hke the terra-cotta, came from Lincoln.

SHAPES OF CLAY

sightliness that can be had in no other material at anywhere near the reasonableness of cost of terra'cotta.

The illustrations in this issue of Shapes of Clay speak eloquently of the beauty and adaptability of terra'COtta in small buildings. They were chosen without too much particularity from among hundreds of strudtures graced by the produdts of this company. They are fairly representative of what may be accomplished with this material when the thought is to combine the artistic with the utilitarian.

To this day, the interest of their (Italy's and France s) fairest cities depends, not on the isolated richness of palaces, hut on the cherished and exquisite decoration of even the smallest tenements of their proud periods. The most elaborate piece of architecture in Venice is a small house at ihe head of the Grand Canal, consisting of a ground floor with two stories above, three windows in the first, and two in the second. Many of the most exquisite buildings are on the narrower canals, and of no larger dimensions. One of the most interesting pieces of fifteenth-century architecture in Jiorth Italy, is a small house in a hac\ street, behind the mar\et-place of Vicenza; it bears date 1481 ... it has also only a ground floor and two stories, with three windows in each, separated by rich flower wor\ . . . The idea that a house must he large in order to be well built, is altogether of modern growth, and is parallel with the idea, that no picture can be historical, except of a size admitting figures larger than life.

THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE — JOHN RUSKIN

EDITORIAL COMMENT

SHAPES OF CLAY

Published by Gladding, McBean 6? Co.

General Office: 660 Market Street

San Francisco

m

Edward F. O'Day, Editor

Vol. II September, 1926 No. 8

The sculptor is traditionally the inti' mate colleague of the architedl. Alike in Greek temples, Gothic cathedrals, and American skyscrapers the architedt and sculptor have collaborated in master' pieces of ornament.

Obviously, the sculptor has a very important part to play in the field of terra'cotta manufacfture. Every "shape of clay" except ashlar is moulded by his delicate fingers.

The plasticity of terra'Cotta gives the sculptor unlimited opportunities of ex' pression in this enduring medium. What' ever of beauty his mind conceives can be brought to life in terra'COtta.

On the inside cover of this issue is re produced one of several figures modeled by a sculptor at our Lincoln kilns, and rendered in terra'COtta for the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, for which G. Albert Lansburgh was the architedt.

The scheme of ornament called for several figures in that pleasant spirit of Gothic sculpture that hovers gently be tween the grotesque and the realistic. It

will be conceded that the Lincoln sculp' tor fixed his fancy delicately in this mid' die ground, and that his fingers were deft indeed in shaping clay to his purpose. Despite archaic costume this near 'sighted "bookworm" lives for us, and makes us smile in recognition of an enduring type. The clay model was transferred to terra'COtta permanence without loss of nuance, and the result is a tribute to the subtle craftsmanship constantly dis' played at Lincoln.

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On the cover of this issue is shown the San Francisco salesyard office of Glad' ding, McBean &' Co. at 445 Ninth Street. The building embodies a number of the company's producfts — terra'Cotta, face brick, roof tile, floor tile, etc. In the gar' dens is displayed a variety of pottery. The whole was meant to illustrate the effedtiveness of clay produds when ap' plied to a small building in an industrial atmosphere that does not exclude floral

beauty.

« # #

Gladding, McBean &' Co. announces the publication of Pottery, an illustrated cat' alogue of the company's complete line of terra'COtta pieces for house and garden use. Prices are quoted in every instance, and there is one illustration in colors that gives the key to the entire color range of the produdts. Copies of Pottery may be had on request from any office of Gladding, McBean fe? Co. or the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company.

7

Ill ' (Above) Melrose Avenue Stores, Los Angeles Morgan, Walls 5? Clements, Architects

The old-rose face brick, the terra-cotta, and the tile coping are from the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company.

(Below) Store Building, Hollywood Stiles P. Clements, Architect

The tan pulsichrome finish terra-cotta for this beautiful fa9ade is from Los Angeles Pressed Brick

Company, as is the Granada roof tile.

IV ' (Above) Samuel Kraemer Building, Anaheim M. Eugene Durfee, Architect

The terra'COtta is from the Tropico plant of Gladding, McBean fe? Co., the enamel brick from

Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company.

(Below) Morton Jewelry Co., Oakland Barton fis? Barton, ArchiteAs

The terra-cotta, from the Lincoln plant of Gladding, McBean 6? Co., is a matt-gla2;e, a delicate pink in color, with traces of gold and lavender.

V ' (Above) Anna J. King Store, Compton Frank Guodwin, Archited:

The terra-cotta, from Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company, is pulsichrome enamel, and the background of

the ornament is a warm polychrome.

(Below) Bank of Hermosa, Hermosa Beach Richard D. King, Archited

The facades are clothed in terra'COtta in a warm gray pulsichrome from the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company.

VI ' (Above) Strodhoff Stores, Anaheim H. H. Lockridge, Archited:

Here is a pleasant combination of enamel and polychrome terra-cotta, the latter having a green background.

(Below) City Hall, Anaheim M. Eugene Durfee, Theo. M. Kistner, Associated Architects

Lincoln supplied the granitex terra-cotta for this dignified public building, and Los Angeles Pressed

Brick Company the enameled brick.

VII ' Babb Building, Long Beach

W. Horace Austin, Archited:

Terra'COtta specially manufadured at the Tropico plant of Gladding, McBean 6? Co. was used exclusively for the fa§ade of this store and ofEce building, which affords an excellent illustration of architectural judgment enlisted in the service of business. Granada "Vari'color" roof tile, from Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company, crowns the structure.

VIII ' S^ W. Straus 6? Co., San Francisco

Lewis P. Hobart, Architedt

The conservatism belonging to a financial house is heralded in this front, where simplicity stops short of severity, and

ornament is sparingly used. The treatment is all terra'cotta, a matt'enamel from the Lincoln Plant

of Gladding, McBean 6? Co., of delicate pink that reveals tones of lavender and

gold, and even suggests purple under changing light.

GLADDING, McBEAN 6? CO. Founded 1875

LOS ANGELES PRESSED BRICK COMPANY

Founded 1887

San Francisco Office, 660 Market Street

Los Angeles Office, 621 South Hope Street

Portland Office, United States National Bank Building

Seattle Office, Dexter Horton Building

San Francisco Sales Yard, 445 Ninth Street

Oakland Office and Sales Yard, Twentysecond and Market Streets

Fresno Office and Sales Yard, San Joaquin Materials Co., 744 G Street

*

/ Lincoln Plant, Lincoln, Placer County, California

Tropico Plant, Glendale, Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles Plant, College and Date Streets, Los Angeles, CaHfornia

Santa Monica Plant, Santa Monica, California

Alberhill Plant, Alberhill, Riverside County, California

Northern Clay Plant, Auburn, Washington

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TerrA'Cotta: In enamel and unglazed finishes for the facing and trim of buildings

Roof Tile: Both machine and hand-made Latin Tiles in wide color variations

Face Brick ' Enameled Brick: Bric\for huildings and mantels

Faience and Floor Tile: Tile, glazed and unglazed, for floors, walls, bathrooms, terraces, and mantels

Vitrified Salt Glazed Pipe: For sewage, drainage, and irrigation: Conduit pipe, culvert pipe, drain tile, grease traps, flush tan\s, segmental sewer bloc\s

Hollow Clay Tile: For partitions and bearing walls

Fire'Clay Chimney Pipe: Chimney tops, fiue linings, gas flues

Fire Brick and Fire Tile: Fire clay, fire'bric\ dust

Laundry Trays ' Kitchen Sinks

Garden Pottery: Vases, benches, urns, fountains, pedestals, sun dials, and bird baths

For this chastely beautiflil dining'room

in the home of Mr. Leo Youngworth at Baldwin HiUs,

Los Angeles, the architeds, Webber, Staunton 6? Spaulding, selected

red ocftagonal promenade tile with redtangular

inserts, a produd: of the Lincoln Kilns.

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Gladding, McBean fe? Co.

Printed by Taylor & Taylor^ San Francisco