EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Henry Chapman Mercer's Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Henry Chapman Mercer's Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, Pennsylvania

According to Harvard Magazine, "Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) was born in 1856 to a wealthy Doylestown, Bucks County family. One of Mercer's greatest influences was his Aunt Lela, Elizabeth Lawrence. As she exposed Henry to her life in society she instilled in him a great sense of self and independence.

After graduating from Harvard in 1879, Mercer studied law at the University of Pennsylvania, but never pursued a career in the field. Instead, Mercer's interests turned to archaeology. He became the curator of American and Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia from 1894-1897. His site excavations as an archaeologist led to his interest in unearthing what drove America before the Industrial Age. Mercer began collecting objects that he felt told the story of human achievement. He believed that studying the tools that people used in everyday life painted a picture of their progression.

While building his collection, Henry developed a special interest in the Pennsylvania German and Moravian settlers. He was particularly attracted to German pottery and Moravian tile work. By 1889 he was producing his own architectural tiles, for which he became famous."

Henry Chapman Mercer was a major advocate of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, and this passion was certainly an influential factor in how he manufactured his tiles in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Chapman oversaw the company from 1898 until his death in 1930. The significance of this factory received the recognition it so much deserved in 1972, when it was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and shortly thereafter was included with Henry Mercer's Museum and Fonthill Castle as a National Historic Landmark District in 1985.

I recently toured the tile works, and was amazed to see this operation so well preserved almost 100 years after Chapman died. Although, it is certainly worth noting that tiles are still manufactured here today, using the same processes and molds that were originally employed during the 1898-1930 period.

These are a few of the pictures I took while visiting the pottery, but I assure you that there is so much more to see, and it's really worth the trip if you have never visited any of the Mercer buildings in Doylestown.

Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, Doylestown, PA