rare early p.b. wight fireproofing company terra cotta tiles added to bldg. 51 historic building material archive

peter b. wight (1838–1925) was an american 19th-century architect who practiced in new york city and chicago. wight's work in 1860s and 1870s new york evolved from a decorative, historicist style that paralleled the work of european designers john ruskin and augustus welby northmore pugin. after the great chicago fire of 1871, wight came to chicago and developed an interest in modern technologies for fireproof construction, which lead to the wight fireproofing company, founded in 1881. the company designed and fabricated hollow non-heat-conductive terra cotta tiles and/or panels to protect interior load-bearing building materials from exposure to the destructive forces of fire.

the bldg. 51 building material archive recently salvaged examples of original clay tile panels applied to structural cast iron columns and beams within adler and sullivan's five-story s.a. maxwell building loft building  (1881) during its transformation into living quarters located on the previously dormant upper floors. the materials were carefully documented and placed within safe storage onsite. the fireproofing materials extracted from replaced columns and beams likely represent the earliest known use of wight's clay tiles within an extant building. 

additional images and information on the s.a. maxwell building and the early use of fireproofing material on commercial buildings erected after the great chicago fire of 1871 will be discussed in great detail in a future post. 

samples extracted and documented:

all images and artifacts courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bld. 51 museum archive.