A castle like none other, this former home of Henry Chapman Mercer is as unique as Mercer was.
Fonthill Castle was built between 1908 and 1912 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Mercer was an archaeologist, ceramist, scholar, anthropologist and antiquarian. His intention in building this castle was that it would be his home and a showplace for his collection of tiles and prints. He was known for his Moravian tiles produced during the American Arts and Crafts movement. He gathered ideas from places he had traveled and things he had seen when creating his masterpiece castle, a mix of Gothic, Medieval and Byzantine. It is one of the earliest examples of a hand-mixed poured concrete structure.
Object lesson: Henry Chapman Mercer and His Moravian Pottery Benjamin Davidson and Pippa Biddle May 3, 2021
Private collection; photograph by Benjamin Davidson, courtesy of Quittner Antiques, Germantown, New York.
It was around 9:30 on the evening of June 24, 1910, when the flames were first spotted. A fire, so went the initial reports, had engulfed a barn just outside town. But when the fire brigade arrived at the scene, they found neither a barn ablaze, nor panicked farmers with their lives and livelihoods hanging in the balance.
Mayflower tile designed by Mercer, Moravian Pottery and Tile Works.
Private collection; photograph by Bill Sheshko, courtesy of Bungalow Bill Antiques, Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
Set back off Route 313 in Doylestown, the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works is both a famous landmark and a leaky old building in need of repair.
Ceramic artist Katia McGuirk got what she wanted Wednesday when the Bucks County commissioners authorized a license for her nonprofit to run the building s operations for the next 30 years.
As a former employee there, McGuirk knows well what she is undertaking.
Like a homebuyer who can see past an old house s cracks and creaks to envision the beautiful home it once was and could be again, McGuirk wants to restore the old tile works both physically and reputation wise, as she brings the tile-making process undertaken there into the 21st century while retaining its close association with the Arts & Crafts Movement its tiles helped promote 100 years ago.
Ceramic artist Katia McGuirk won the right to run the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works for the next 30 years as the Bucks County Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to offer her nonprofit the contract for supervision of the famed tile factory in Doylestown.
The commissioners voted for the contract without asking any questions of McGuirk, after she made a presentation showing the ceramic murals and other artistic endeavors she has created as well as lists of her board of directors and other officials involved in the new nonprofit, The Tile Works of Bucks County.
Bucks County Controller Neale Dougherty will be the county representative on the board, which county Commissioner Chairwoman Diane Ellis-Marseglia described later as a smart move.
Nonprofit To Take Over Operations Of Famed Moravian Pottery & Tile Works
Credit: Pamela V White
Bucks County’s famed Moravian Pottery and Tile Works will be operated by a nonprofit organization, removing the financial burden from taxpayers.
At their Wednesday meeting, the Bucks County Commissioners approved a 30-year license, management, and services agreement with the new group, TileWorks of Bucks County, which will be led by well-known ceramic artist Katia McGuirk, who previously worked at the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works.
The TileWorks of Bucks County nonprofit is run by a board featuring those with knowledge of ceramics, management, county government, and the law. Bucks County Controller Neale Dougherty will be on the board.