examples of terra cotta ornament executed by the winkle terra cotta company from the bldg. 51 archive

the st. louis-based winkle terra cotta co., with offices in the century bldg. at 9th and olive sts., and works at 5739 manchester ave., was established as the joseph winkle terra cotta works in 1883, located in cheltenham, a suburb of st. louis. in 1889 business was incorporated under the title of the winkle terra cotta company.

the company, named after the founder and president joseph winkle, operated from a factory complex covering about 6 acres. the plant consisted of three buildings, one five-story building 56 x 50 ft., one four-story building, 250 x 73 ft., and a three-story building 250 x 50 ft.

the manufacturing facilities of the entire plant consisted of three pressing shops and drying floors combined, one machinery building containing the clay-mixing machinery, one engine room, a boiler house, a storage house, a plaster shop, and a fitting department. the storage capacity of the plant was about 4,000 tons of clay.

the power equipment consisted of four boilers, two of the o’brien type and two of the wangler type.

a 25-h. p. atlas engine supplied power for the machinery on the upper floors. a 30-h. p. engine was used for the operation of a small pug-mill and a 6-ft. dry pan; a 5-h. p. engine drove the lathe in the engine room, and an 8-h. p. engine furnished the power for a st. louis steam engine co’s. air-pumps from which the air pressure was derived for the atomizing of the glazes.

the principal portion of the clay used by winkle came from a 70-acre farm owned by the company at glencoe, mo., twenty miles form st. louis, and a part from an 82-acre tract of land at iron mountain. iron mountain furnished a fine grade of kaolin and glencoe a first-class terra cotta clay, which was purchased by the company on a contract arrangement. a good deal of cheltenham shale was used as well. in the glazing department, and for special work, other clays were used, including, but not limited to, tennessee ball clays, english ball clays, and english china clays.

on the fourth floor of the main building was both the laboratory and mixing room, under the charge of s. geijsbeek, a well-known clay expert and ceramic chemist. the laboratory contained a complete chemical and physical outfit for testing and analyzing all the materials that entered the factory.

the drying floor capacity of the plant was of great extent, with the drying being done by exhaust steam in the day and live at night. the time of drying varied with the shape, size and thickness of the pieces. when dry, the products were delivered to the muffle kilns, of which there were fourteen, each 15 ft. in the clear.

among the many important structures in which the winkle terra cotta products have been used are the city hall, milwaukee, wis.; fort dearborn bldg., chicago; hellman bldg., los angeles, cal.; the high school, detroit, mich.; the antlers hotel, colorado springs, colo.; the wabash passenger depot, decatur, ill.; alaska bldg., seattle. in st. louis may be mentioned the missouri trust, lincoln trust, wainwright, carlton, frisco, st. louis star, chemical, and kennard bldgs.

examples of winkle terra cotta ornament from the bldg. 51 museum collection:

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive.

all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive (unless otherwise noted). all rights reserved. 2021.