The Natural History Museum has an ornate terracotta facade typical of high Victorian architecture. The carvings represent the contents of the Museum.

The architectural detail on the facade of the building represents the contents of the Museum

The Bell Edison Telephone Building, Birmingham, England

Constitution Hill, Birmingham, England, showing high-level vegetation

Terracotta, in its unglazed form, became fashionable as an architectural ceramic construction material in England in the 1860s, and in USA in the 1870s. It was generally used to supplement brick and tiles of similar colour in late Victorian buildings. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3752x2391, 2729 KB) Summary The Natural History Museum. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3752x2391, 2729 KB) Summary The Natural History Museum. ... For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ... Terra cotta is a hard semifired waterproof ceramic clay used in pottery and building construction. ... Manchester Town Hall is an example of Victorian architecture found in Manchester, UK. The Carson Mansion is an example of a Victorian home in Eureka, California, USA The term Victorian architecture can refer to one of a number of architectural styles predominantly in the Victorian era. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1663x1199, 216 KB) Summary Taken on a recent trip to the museum Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Natural History Museum Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1663x1199, 216 KB) Summary Taken on a recent trip to the museum Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Natural History Museum Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1478 KB) The 1896 Victorian terracotta Bell Edison Telephone Building - 17 & 19 Newhall Street, Birmingham, England. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1478 KB) The 1896 Victorian terracotta Bell Edison Telephone Building - 17 & 19 Newhall Street, Birmingham, England. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1318x2464, 592 KB) Other versions Originally from en. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1318x2464, 592 KB) Other versions Originally from en. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... // Events and trends Technology The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States is built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869. ... // Events and Trends Technology The invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell. ... An old brick wall in English bond laid with alternating courses of headers and Brick is an artificial stone made by forming clay into rectangular blocks which are hardened, either by burning in a kiln or sometimes, in warm countries, by sun-drying. ... For the towns named Tile, see Tile, Somalia and Tile, Lebanon; for the progressive rock band, see Tiles (band). ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian Era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ...

It had been used before this in Germany from 1824 by Karl Frederich Schinkel. Henry Cole, secretary to the Science and Arts Department of the UK adopted terracotta for the building which is now the Victoria and Albert Museum (1859-71) and then the Royal Albert Hall (1867-71), both in London. Alfred Waterhouse used it in his designs when in business in Manchester from 1853 and London from 1865. He used a combination of buff and blue-grey terracotta in his Natural History Museum in London. 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Sir Henry Cole (15 July 1808, Bath – 18 April 1882, London) was a civil servant who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in 19th century Britain. ... Terra cotta is a hard semifired waterproof ceramic clay used in pottery and building construction. ... The Victoria and Albert Museum viewed from Thurloe Square. ... Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences is an arts venue dedicated to Queen Victorias husband and consort, Prince Albert. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, has an ornate terracotta facade typical of high Victorian architecture. ... Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, North West England. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ...

The colour of terracotta varies with the source of the clay. London clay gives a pale pink or buff colour, whereas the Ruabon (North Wales) clay gives a bright red. Ruabon (Welsh: Rhiwabon) is a small village south of Wrexham in north Wales. ... Approximate extent of North Wales North Wales (known in some archaic texts as Northgalis) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales. ...

Terracotta had the advantage of being cheap and light. It was adaptable to mass-production techniques for stock shapes, although the plaster moulds had a limited capability for re-use. Additionally it could be freely worked by craftsmen to make custom-sculptured adornments and plaques. It was accepted as a material by the Arts and Crafts movement because despite seeming a mass-produced material it was hand made and designed by craftsmen. It had a manufacture time of about eight weeks and each piece had to be made over-size to allow for shrinkage as the clay body dried. To avoid cracking the pieces had to be quite thin. They were filled with concrete as they were applied to buildings. The disadvantage of terracotta, apart from its rather uniform colour in a given district, was that it was not easy to keep clean. Town smoke made it blacken. A more modern phenomenon is the growth of naturally seeded plants and small trees which grow in the nooks and crannies of the intricate designs high above the streets now that the Victorian pollution has gone. Artichoke wallpaper, by John Henry Dearle for William Morris & Co. ...

Terracotta went out of fashion from around the 1890s, giving way to glazed terracotta, or faience as it is known in Britain, which does not attract grime and is easy to clean, giving way to a more colourful architecture. The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a masonry building material 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 enviroments. ...

See also

Glazed architectural terra-cotta Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a masonry building material 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 enviroments. ...

Sources

Brick - A World History, James W P Campbell & Will Pryce, 2003, ISBN 0-500-34195-8

External links

• Article on terracotta in Victorian and Edwardian Terracotta Buildings
• Understanding and Conserving Terracotta - Dr Michael Stratton