SHS Tiles

The SHS building at Lewis and Adams has two sets of decorative tiles, outside and in.

The outside tiles are mosaics high up on the exterior walls, to the front and sides, or east and north-south. Four mosaics depict the school curriculum and two are decorative figures, possibly heraldic.



The designer was Henry Chapman Mercer (1865-1930), founder of the Moravian Tile Works in Bucks County, PA. He embraced the Arts and Crafts style, which also shapes the building's rooftop balustrade and grand front staircases.

The inside tiles, made by Rockwood Pottery of Cincinnati, are back splashes for the drinking fountains. All depict cool, watery scenes, whether at sea or on land.













You may learn more at the Historic SHS web site, especially from its Architecture link. My thanks to Jenni Dahl, SHS Technology Facilitator, for assembling the site and this information.

Little did we know, in our school days, that we lived in history and would join it!