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Department of Clay-Working and Ceramics Building at Rutgers University
The Department of Clay-Working and Ceramics Building (the Ceramics Building) is a historically significant building on the College Avenue Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States. It is located at 536 George Street bounded by Seminary Place to the north, George Street to the east, Hamilton Street to the south, and Rutgers' Voorhees Mall of the College Avenue Campus to the west. The Ceramics Building has two entrances, one faces George Street and the other faces the Voorhees Mall Campus, there is a parking lot located on the campus side.

The three-story 43' by 102' rectangular building was designed by architect George W. Ritchie in a Colonial Revival style to match the surrounding buildings on the campus, including Murray Hall (1908) and Milledoler Hall (1910). The building's exterior walls are constructed from a reddish common brick and limestone with a terra cotta base course finish. The doorways and cornice consist of terra cotta panels place between the windows of the first story. The structural and design elements of the building are fabricated, to the greatest extent possible, using ceramic materials donated by a multitude of manufacturers of various facets of NJ's Ceramics Industry. Ritchie continued the demonstration of different types of ceramic material on the building's interior as well. When the building was constructed, the basement housed the furnace, kiln and machinery rooms.

The Ceramics Department moved out of its George Street location and onto the Busch Campus in 1963. In 1964, the building was refurbished to include 21 offices, 2 classrooms and a 75-seat lecture hall for the Graduate School of Social Work.

Brief Overview and Use
The Ceramics Building was designed for the purposes of instruction and research for the ceramics industry in order to create skilled tradesmen who could then enter into the industry. The Ceramic Building’s fabric contributes to its pedagogical function and is a good representation of the use of numerous ceramic products in modern construction at that time. Due to the state of the art research facilities and machinery, the building was truly one of a kind. The decision to use numerous ceramic products from local craftsmen made it all the more unique, giving it a true sense of character for the building’s purpose. This is likely, why according to the NJ Claymaker’s Association, at the time in which it was built, “this building was the finest of its kind in the United States and likely the finest throughout the world,".

A prize competition sponsored and paid for by the Terra Cotta Co. and the Eastern Terra Cotta Association was held to find a suitable exterior design of the building. Fifteen architecture firms submitted designs and the winner was E.W. Moell of Rocky Hill, NJ.

The Ceramics Building housed the Ceramics Department from 1922 until 1963, and then, as mentioned, the building was refurbished in 1964 for the Graduate School of Social Work. The Graduate School of Social Work resided in the building as recently as early 2019. However, the Graduate School of Social Work moved out earlier this year and although there are a few faculty and staff left at in the building, by the beginning of 2020, the building will be completely vacant. According to Rutgers University Facilities Management, the building will eventually undergo a complete renovation. However, it does not seem as if the University presently has any formal plans for the future use of the building.

Historic Significance
Paid for by the Ceramics Industry, the Ceramics Building demonstrated the use of cutting-edge industrial materials in an educational setting, thus the building itself was a pedagogical tool.

In 1901, William S. Myers, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, proposed a bill to the NJ Legislature that would provide the necessary facilities to establish a course in clay working and ceramics at Rutgers. This proposal in itself was rather unusual, as it was not common for professors to propose legislation. Not long after, on March 17, 1902, a state act was passed requiring the Trustees of the State Agricultural College of NJ to establish a school of ceramics. The act allotted $12,000 in order to equip a laboratory and $2,500 for operating expenses. This act was the first expenditure of funds by the State of New Jersey on behalf of Rutgers College. The Department of Clay-Working and Ceramics, as it was originally named, was the third such department in the country after Ohio State University (1894) and the New York State School of Clay-Working and Ceramics (1900).

It wasn’t until twelve years later that one of the more significant events occurred, on June 25, 1914, the Department of Ceramics invited some of the industry’s key actors to attend a Clayworkers Institute. This event resulted in the founding of the NJ Clayworkers Association. The NJ Clayworkers Association was organized “to sponsor research and the dissemination of knowledge concerning modern technical developments among its members.”

In 1919, a campaign was launched by the NJ Clayworkers Association for the construction of a new Ceramics Building. Middlesex County Senator Thomas Brown sponsored the project for the new building, which was erected in 1922. Following the launch of the campaign, the Department’s scope was expanded in 1920 through the creation of the NJ Ceramic Research Station. Through another act by the State Legislature, the functions of the Department and Research Station were defined as follows: (1) resident instruction in the technical aspects of ceramics, (2) research on the mineral raw materials and their processing into ceramic products, and (3) extension activities including publication of bulletins. According to this book, “Dr. Richard McCormick, the University’s official historian, described the creation of the NJ Ceramics Research Station as “extremely significant toward establishing Rutgers as the State College,” this was due to both the money provided to the school for the building, as well as the scientific research that would be able to be conducted through the 1920 act of State Legislation that created the NJ Ceramic Research Station within the framework of the existing Department.

The Ceramics Building carries architectural and historical significance at the local, state and national levels. The contract for the building’s general construction was awarded to the Philadelphia-based Franklin M. Harris Company. The design and construction were to be supervised by the State Department of Buildings under its Director, Alan B. Millis with the assistance of George W. Ritchie, the building’s architect. Construction of the building was estimated at $250,000. The State appropriated $100,000 towards the construction of the building and over 80 NJ industry manufacturers contributed to the rest of the building. This collaboration between state and industry was rather atypical, making the construction of the Ceramics Building a unique situation.

The importance of the ceramics industry to the economy of NJ, the cutting-edge education provided by the School of Engineering, and the architectural features of the Ceramics Building (specifically the museum/assembly room on the third floor) all contribute to the significance of the Ceramics Building. The Ceramics Building embodies the industry’s distinctive characteristics for the time period, as illustrated in the building’s common brick and limestone exterior and the terra cotta base course finish. Further, it was significant in contributing to part of the movement in which ceramics moved away from an agricultural subject and became a branch of science and engineering.

Architecture
The museum / assembly room located on the third floor is arguably an architectural gem. The museum encompasses the entire south side end of the third floor. In addition to serving as a museum to display ceramic art pieces, the room was also used for lectures and assemblies. The room is 25’ by 42’ with a ceiling height of 15’. The entire room is finished in hand-laid tile to include a “floor of exquisite hand-made red fire-flashed tile, tile paneling and inserts around the ceiling, with tile fireplace and mantel.” Herman C. Mueller of the Mueller Mosaic Co. laid the tile and the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Co. constructed the museum’s entryway door with five-color polychrome and gold leaf. It can be argued that the hand-laid tile is historic on its own, as it is a trade skill that is hard to come by in modern times.

One of the tile patterns used included the Native American swastika pattern, which did not carry Nazi connotations at the time it was used as it was pre-WWII. Nonetheless, in later renovations, university architects painted over the tile (without damaging it) to disguise the potentially-offensive swastika. Despite the University’s attempt, the pattern can still be seen today. Before the rise of the Nazi party, the symbol was once considered a sign of good fortune in nearly every culture worldwide. In fact, in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, the swastika means “well-being”, with the symbol being adopted by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for millennia. The US graphic design writer Steven Heller makes the argument for the symbol in his book The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption, noting how it was exuberantly adopted in the West as an architectural pattern on both advertising and product design.

Education
On June 13, 1922 during the dedication ceremony of the Ceramics Building, which took place at the Ceramics Building, Rutgers College awarded Thomas Edison with an honorary degree. During the 1880s and 1890s, Thomas Edison conducted experiments using magnets to separate iron ore from low grade, unusable ores. However, due to the large amounts of funding needed for the experiments, engineering problems, and the decline in the price of iron ore, the invention was abandoned. Although the invention did not pan out, Edison later applied his knowledge from the experiment to make his own robust version of Portland Cement, Edison Portland Cement. Edison’s Portland Cement was a very good product that was actually used to construct Yankee Stadium. Through this process, Edison was also able to completely revolutionize the cement kiln industry, making him a significant figure in the Ceramics Industry.

Further, Rutgers College awarded Dr. Edward J. Orton Jr. of Ohio State University with the degree of Doctor of Science. Orton was the first ceramics engineer to be honored with this degree in the nation. Orton was an important figure within the ceramics industry. In 1894, Orton was appointed the first Chairman of the Ceramic Engineering Department at Ohio State University, which was the original ceramic engineering school in the United States. The ceramic engineering school that provided educational instruction in the technology of clay, glass and cement industries was established largely due to Orton’s efforts. Orton’s roots of the Orton Ceramic Foundation date all the way back to the establishment of the “Standard Pyrometric Cone Company” in 1896. Orton honored his Harvard-educated geologist father, Dr. Edward Orton Sr., by creating the Orton Memorial Library of Geology for the study / research of theories and records of earthly change.

This dedication ceremony marked a historical event for both the ceramic industry in New Jersey and the field of ceramics across the United States. Volume 2 of the association’s magazine, The Ceramist, notes “one great result of the work for this building has been the better understanding and appreciation of our fellow-ceramicists…it has brought to us a realization that we can all find a common ground on which to work for the advancement of our industry.” Given its status as the third Departments of Ceramics in the country, it can be argued that the construction of this building was instrumental in the early education curriculum geared towards the ceramics industry and understanding ceramics as a science.

Shortly after the end of WWII, the School’s Department Professors N. Snyder and E.J. Smoke led a group of key ceramic scientists, military leaders, and ceramic educators in order to identify principal issues pertaining to ceramic high-frequency insulation. Backed by a leading research institute, the group outlined a research and development program sponsored by the US Army Signals Corps. The US Army Signals Corps is a division of the Department of the Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. The Signals Corps was looking to use ceramic technology and engineering to help resolve key issues that faced the nation at the time such as building techniques and the effects of cold climate on construction, of which the division developed short-term goals supporting immediate construction and maintenance and long-term goals for collecting data over several years in addition to conducting laboratory and field experiments. Because of this program, the School of Ceramics was awarded a contract for funding from March 1946 to December 1969. The research findings on electronic ceramics were presented at several symposia for many years thereafter. It was actually based on these symposia and the research conducted at the School of Ceramics that provided the basis for the formation of the Electronics Division of the American Ceramic Society in 1958. Dr. John Koenig was the first Division Chairman. Koenig was instrumental to Rutgers, as he was the Director for both the School of Ceramics and the New Jersey Ceramic Research Station for 25 years. Prior to coming to Rutgers, Dr. Koenig conducted research on general electric and performed academic work and research at both Ohio State University and Penn State. Further, the program’s effort derived 33 graduate degrees, a handful of patents, and a multitude of presentations and publications.

Additionally, Rutgers University history cites the School of Ceramics is cited as the very first place in which that conducted innovative work pertaining to the development of ceramic covers for radar equipment (radomes) and missile nose cones. As defined by The Electrical Engineering Handbook from 2005, a radome is a dielectric shield covering that is made to protect an antenna from the environment and severe weather conditions. The purpose of a missile nose cone is designed to help prevent air from slowing down a rocket related to aerodynamic drag. As noted in the book, Centennial Celebration 1902 to 2002: 100 Years of Ceramics at Rutgers, “A ceramic body was developed that was 99% dense and had the required refractoriness, high temperature strength and the thermal shock resistance along with the excellent electromagnetic properties required." According to James Hirsch’s New York Times article ‘Rutgers Presses Ceramics Studies’ dated April 12, 1987, many industry leaders and scientists would describe Rutgers University’s Center for Ceramics Research at the Rutgers College of Engineering as being one of the leading research institutes in what Hirsch refers to as the “ceramics revolution”.

Industry
At the state level, NJ was heavily reliant on the ceramics industry. Although the ceramic industries were found across the country, NJ has a longstanding history of being prominent for its ceramic wares. From the early-1700s to the mid-1900s, the industry was among the most important within the State. In fact, one of the first glass-works in the United States was created in New Jersey in the year 1738 and the first American firebrick was made in a NJ factory in 1812. In the 1900s, the clay industry employed thousands of people who lived in NJ’s Raritan Valley Region, or the region along the middle reaches of the Raritan River and its North and South Branches. J.R. Watson built the first fire brick manufactory in Perth Amboy by in 1833. Prior to this, clay had to be exported to manufacturers outside of the US. However, with this fire brick manufactory on the home front, they were now able to manufacture fire brick on an industrial scale and the Raritan Valley Region ventured into a new era in 1836, in which expansion of the clay mining industry and the clay products industry became possible.

The construction of the Ceramics Building was the first time that manufacturers and producers of the various branches of the ceramics industry financially assisted in the building and equipment of a department at a State University. At the time of construction, NJ was ranked 3rd in the United States for its annual value of ceramic products manufactured. As one of the three leading States in the Ceramics Industry, the State attracted considerable attention during the World War because NJ shipped fire clay from deposits in Middlesex County to these industries in other States throughout the US. NJ’s architectural terra cotta industry, which spanned form 1870-1930, was one of the more prominent sectors. New Jersey’s “Clay District” led the United States in the production of terra cotta, making the industry not only significant to NJ history, but to federal history as well. By the 1920s, NJ terra cotta products were being shipped as far as Japan and Cuba. In fact, the Perth Amboy Company’s terra cotta products included the façade of the first Madison Square Garden and Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal. Middlesex County was at the heart of the district. Terra cotta here refers to colorful, bold, architectural terra cotta that was used as building material. Terra Cotta was produced as large blocks of hollow fired clay that was sculpted and molded into all manner of shapes. Designers preferred terra cotta over real stone because it was less costly and architects could design the material to fit the exact specifications of a given project. Terra cotta was made in molds, meaning that it did not need to be carved. If a designer wanted 20 identical capitals, then one mole was used all twenty times. Terra cotta was also thought to be cleaner than stone – it could be washed with soap and water to look new again. Further, terra cotta provided a fire-proof coating for iron or steel frames, and although it was not load-bearing itself, it was necessary for constructing skyscrapers as well. At the time, people believed that architectural terra cotta was supposed to last forever.

In a letter from the Precision Grinding Wheel Company, Incorporated to Rutgers College President W. H. S. Demarest, dated June 15, 1920, the author stated that the building should be located at the corner of Seminary Place and George Street as opposed to Demarest’s suggested location on the college farm. He argues that the building should be located near the other engineering departments “to which it is closely allied, and to which it ought to be more closely allied in the future than it has been in the past.” Further, he objected to the distance of the farm from the engineering department and the college as a whole. This letter demonstrates the significant cultural shift that was taking place within high education on a national level at the time. Ultimately, the decision to construct the building on George Street ties the University to the transformative movement recognizing the study of ceramics as a basic research, rather than as part of agriculture, which was an applied science. Demarest agreed to the change in location.