Tile Stylemaker

Web exclusive commentary on Art Tile, Take Two from our editor.

By Demetra Aposporos

	The Fountain room at Hershey Hotel in Hershey, PA--celebrating its 75th anniversary this year--is thought to be Batchelder's last major tile installation, and features an assortment of birds, plants, and field tiles. For more on the hotel's history, visit www.hersheyhotel.com.

Art tile icon Ernest Allan Batchelder became a one-man branch of the American Arts & Crafts movement. Born to a poor New Hampshire family in 1876, he moved from teaching at Throop Polytechnic Institute (later CalTech) in Pasadena to begin manufacturing ceramics in his backyard kiln in 1909. His distinctive relief tiles featured motifs like birds, geometric patterns, Mayan designs, and rabbits—one of which accompanied the stylized initials EAB on a signature tile. A prolific writer, designer, and teacher he was a poor businessman, yet the Batchelder Tile Co. thrived from 1912 to 1932. His tiles were so much in demand that he twice moved to expand his operations, with his last and largest facility occupying a six-acre site in Los Angeles. Today, authentic Batchelder tiles are collected as precious gems, and several companies make reproductions true to his original designs and glazes.



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