Historic Pewabic tiles destroyed in Belle Isle fountain restoration

**Huggybear** · September-21-10, 06:24 PM

So you just want to bitch? As I pointed out before, the tiles are not set in the cement. They go in a thin layer that goes on top of it. If anything, it's a piece of unfinished business.

I seriously doubt the designers of the Scott Fountain intended that it ever have ragged-looking, damaged tiles in its base. They wanted something attractive and elegant.* If Penske destroyed that, it's a fait accompli. Take it up with him. Or the owners of the project. At this point, it's crying over spilt milk. I think you are far more in line with the intent of the fountain if you replace the wreckage with the same design - and different colors if necessary [[no different, in concept, than repairing crumbled plaster sections in a theater). And I doubt that anyone who designed that fountain exerted any direct control over the color scheme of that tile anyway.

As to Pewabic's institutional abilities... well, Pewabic was a completely commercial enterprise at the time the original tile went in the fountain. If Mary Chase Stratton didn't document her processes, that was her business decision - and the consequence that colors could not be reproduced for repair purposes is a problem that should be laid squarely at her feet. It's not like abuse, concrete disintegration or wear and tear were invented in the 2000s. A lot of stuff got broken on job sites, and it looks like this installation may have even been made of broken pieces [[or affected broken ones).

Pewabic today is a nonprofit that mainly exists as an umbrella organization for ceramic artists. If you have seen the shows there, its artists exhibit a tremendous range of colors and finishes - far greater than required to meet or exceed the aesthetic qualities of the original tile - and if it wanted to, Pewabic could organize the project. And if you wanted the "Pewabic Pewabic," the corporate colors over there are pretty sedate, but you could make a good go at it.

*Did the designers originally intend it to have tile at all? Even in its best state, it looked like a tacked-on, last-minute Greco-Roman addition to a monochromatic fountain. That is, if you could even see it when the fountain was on.

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

But this is not what was done, the tile was replaced with a plain concrete bowl. If it had been replaced with new tile, it would still not really be a restoration, but at least some of the historic aesthetic character of the fountain would have been preserved for future generations. However, as is stated above by many posters, like most older Pewabic tile installations around Detroit, a lot of the tiles had glazes that were irreplacable and unreplicable, even by the present-day Pewabic Pottery itself. Preserving such irreplacable materials is the very heart of real historic preservation and restoration.

As for the "faded, abraded, and abused tile fragments," of course it would have been much better if their protective glazes not been cluelessly damaged by Penske's fly-by-night waterproofing contractor in the first damn place. As Lowell says above, tile installations often last for thousands of years, and there are a number of Pewabic installations around the area that have survived just fine with minimal care, just as long as someone didn't maul them in the name of expediency.

**gnome** · September-21-10, 08:16 PM

If your desire was to be a classless buffoon, meaning one who takes small half-facts combined with suppositions, a dash of misinformation and roll it all into one neat middle finger, you succeeded masterfully.

**n7hn** · September-21-10, 10:22 PM

Ive done a sample of my proposed new mosaic border for the fountain... something more fitting where the city is now ,,,,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17798133@N06/3771108982/

LodgeDodger · October-14-10, 05:11 PM

Stopped by the Scott Fountain today to take a look at the "improved" fountain. The bed is concrete. I was sickened by the loss of the Pewabic mosaics.

Earlier this week, I was looking at my old Scott Fountain pics and found three of the mosaics: a crab, sea horses, and a lobster. Does anyone remember the other animals depicted in the mosaics?