11 November 2011

Tile Lives on Forever


This Chinatown door is interesting enough on its own. I mean, look at the crazy amount of detail. The carved doors, the cast iron decorative pillars, the uniquely shaped windows. It's freaking art, this doorway.




But inside, in the vestibule, is where the where the treasure lies. A beautiful, and largely intact, piece of tile work commemorating the men who built the house—either B & M Co. or M & B Co. Can't tell.

Note to developers who want their names to outlive them: Go with tile. Floor ceramics go on forever, and, unlike cornices, always stay in the public view.

4 comments:

will hauff said...

It is amazing, not only because it is intrinsically a beautiful thing, but because it is relatively untouched. When I was in Winnipeg, Canada, they had a few blocks of amazing warehouse/office buildings that had the original hardware and windows. That was probably because these structures were not worth destroying to be replaced by something cleaner and more expensive. Amazing that in such a rich city as New York that doorway has not been molested.

Cesc Sales said...

awesome blog. I follow you from Barcelona!

Ken Mac said...

wonder what the M stands for

Brooks of Sheffield said...

Why? Do you know what the "B" stands for?