george grant elmslie-designed thomas edison school terra cotta joins bldg. 51 museum

several historically important george grant elmslie (1877-1926) designed terra cotta fragments salvaged from the thomas a. edison school (1936-37) hammond, indiana) during its demolition in 1991, have been added to the ever-growing bldg. 51 museum and archive collection. 

elmslie's last commissions built during his life were done in collaboration with architect and engineer william s. sutton (1890-1975), who's firm resided in hammond, ind. between 1934-1936, elmslie and sutton erected four schools all within northwestern indiana. today, only one of the three schools remains standing.

the first and largest school was the thornton township high school (1935), located in calumet city, ills. the other three, located in hammond, ind, were the thomas a. edison, iver p. morton and washington irving schools. despite differences in compositional arrangements and/or configurations, the schools shared the use of ornamental terra cotta (slip glazes varied) and roman brick, along with abstract terra cotta statues, figures and screens by artists emil zettler and alfonso iannelli (the latter did work for frank lloyd wright on multiple commissions including midway gardens, 1914-1929).

the richly colored mottled red over orange slip glazed terra cotta ornament, including the fragments recently acquired by the bldg. 51 museum, were modeled by fritz albert (who replaced long-time elmslie and sullivan collaborator kristian schneider, who died in august of 1935) for the midland terra cotta company. interestingly, midland, who began operations in 1910, produced wildly popular catalogs heavily populated with "stock patterns" emulating both elmslie and former boss and mentor, louis h. sullivan. 

the two most notable fragments acquired by the bldg. 51 museum archive, were salvaged from the edison school's main entrance cornice. the pattern is often referred to as the "snowflake," which was used in various configurations on the building's exterior.  

all images and ornament courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, the bldg. 51 archive and hammond library. 

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