Architectural graphics & records 1895-1964.

Format:

Archive

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

O.W. Ketcham Terra Cotta Works.

Contributor:

Barton, A. Daniel.

Ceramic Sculpture Company.

O.W. Ketcham, Inc.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Architectural terra-cotta.

Genre:

Architectural drawings.

Photoprints.

Physical Description:

xxx items.

Arrangement:

Architectural drawings & photographs for specific architectural projects cataloged separately for each Ketcham project number. RLIN visual materials file.

Place of Publication:

1895-1964.

Summary:

This record is parent to xxx subseries records for architectural drawings prepared for the individual projects of the firm. Also, there are xxx subseries records of photoprints for these project buildings. Other photoprints, post cards & other graphics materials are included in the support archival files, along with ledgers, office files, advertising materials, newspaper clips, and 6 terra cotta samples.

Notes:

For a list of records associated with this collection search the VIM file "FIN CIN KET#", and also "FIN CIN CSC", for the successor film Ceramic Sculpture Company.

Included here are representative materials from the Philadelphia area based O.W. Ketcham Terra Cotta Works. Documents show an office located in Philadelphia, and the actual factory in Crum Lynne, Pa. Drawing title blocks from the earliest dates available in the collection to around 1960 usually show the firm name as "O.W. Ketcham Terra Cotta Works". After 1960, drawing title blocks often read "O.W. Ketcham Inc. Terra Cotta Works". In the 1960's title blocks, printed material & letter heads begin to show the prevalent use of "O.W. Ketcham, Incorporated, Philadelphia". Some drawings included in this collection from 1964 & 1965 show title blocks with "Ceramic Sculpture Company, Crum Lynne, Pa., successors to O.W. Ketcham Inc., Terra Cotta Works Div." or give both the Ketcham & the Ceramic Sculpture Company names. Two "Age-Art Garden Pottery" price lists, dated May 1, 1964, are identical except for the use of two different letterheads: [1 / The Old] O.W. Ketcham, Incorporated. 121-125 N. 18th Street, South of Parkway, Philadelphia 3, Pa. [2 / The New] Ceramic Sculpture Company, P.O. Box 57, Crum Lynne, Pa. 19022. Successors to O.W. Ketcham Terra Cotta Works Div. The firm of O.W. Ketcham, Inc. continued after 1964. Part of the Crum Lynne factory site is now covered by Interstate Highway 95.

The bulk of the firm's work was for projects in Pennsylvania, including additions to Bethlehem Steel Co. Office by Graham Anderson Probst & White, and Ritter & Shay's building with the mosaic "necklace" across from Philadelphia's City Hall. O.W. Ketcham Terra Works were employed as subcontractors to prepare structural or decorative tile pieces by architects in most Eastern seaboard states and Indiana & Ohio. Architect Dwight James Baum used Ketcham tile, for example, in the John Ringling Mansion & Art Museum in Sarasota, Florida., and also for his work on the West Side Y.M.C.A. in New York City, as well as a residence in Cincinnati, Ohio. Emery Roth is given as architect for Ketcham apartment building projects in New York City. Several New York State sites are found, including several Oakley & Schallmo churches in Buffalo. Several Washington, D.C. projects for different architects & building types are found. One Canadian project is given with the drawing description written in French.