Strolling in downtown Lawrence last evening, I noticed this tiled doorstep, the entry to the upstairs of an 1858 historic building, the House Building, at 729 1/2 Massachusetts.
I checked a book about the House building: The House Building: My Search for Its Foundations written in 1990 by Carol Buhler Francis. I learned the entry was tiled in the mid 1950s when Miller Furniture opened a doorway to combine the entire building into one large sales space. "That's probably when the small, square black and white tiles were glued to the building's front," Francis wrote. We can suspect the artist knew a quilter or was a quilter or has inspired several quilters since they created this.....
This may post twice, if so forgive me. Ami Simms wrote a book on ancient tile patterns in Rome used as quilt inspiration. I do not have a link to information, but do own the book.
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