Term: terra cotta (architecture)
Definition:
a construction material consisting of cast and fired clay units, generally larger and more intricately modeled than brick and usually glazed or painted. In Wisconsin, it can be found on late Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque, and late Gothic Revival buildings as inset panels, finials, and cornices. Terra cotta was also used as a structural element in the form of glazed blocks. Relatively rare in Wisconsin, it was a material particularly suitable for facing steel skeleton buildings and was popular on tall commercial buildings well into the twentieth century. View more information elsewhere at wisconsinhistory.org
View pictures relating to architecture at Wisconsin Historical Images.
[Source: Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986).
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