The charming tile fireplace in the room now occupied by Central Library's Teen Room was produced by the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. This company was one of the leading Arts & Crafts style tile producers at the time the Central Library building was built (ca. 1912). Its tiles and mosaics can still be seen in both public and private locations across the country. This is one example of architect Cass Gilbert and the city of St. Louis choosing the highest quality materials for their new library.
Henry Chapman Mercer had founded the Tile Works in 1898, and quickly gained a national reputation. He won a Grand Prize for “Original Objects of Art Workmanship” at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 (St. Louis’ own World’s Fair).
The tiles are marked with the company’s distinctive mark, an intertwined “MOR”. The central three-panel mosaic depicts scenes of Native American activities, including “Starting a Fire”. These images were favorites of Mercer, who was also a pioneer scholar in American anthropology and archaeology. The fireplace also features many individual tile designs based on those he had discovered in Medieval and Renaissance buildings in Europe. The whimsical “Centaur of Nuremberg”, and the more stylized “Little Castle” and “Fleur de Lys” tiles are of this type.
When the Central Library building opened, this room was the Children’s Room, with the fireplace serving as a gathering place for story times and other activities.
Henry Chapman Mercer had founded the Tile Works in 1898, and quickly gained a national reputation. He won a Grand Prize for “Original Objects of Art Workmanship” at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 (St. Louis’ own World’s Fair).
The tiles are marked with the company’s distinctive mark, an intertwined “MOR”. The central three-panel mosaic depicts scenes of Native American activities, including “Starting a Fire”. These images were favorites of Mercer, who was also a pioneer scholar in American anthropology and archaeology. The fireplace also features many individual tile designs based on those he had discovered in Medieval and Renaissance buildings in Europe. The whimsical “Centaur of Nuremberg”, and the more stylized “Little Castle” and “Fleur de Lys” tiles are of this type.
When the Central Library building opened, this room was the Children’s Room, with the fireplace serving as a gathering place for story times and other activities.
Photo courtesy of Melinda Stuart, taken in April 2010
