A GUIDE TO
RENOVATOR’S TOOLBOX
ENCAUSTIC TILE
by CATE CORCORAN
Ever notice the exotic-looking colorful tile in old brownstone
entries and wonder what it is?
It’s called encaustic tile, and it’s been around since medieval
times when builders used it for church floors. Today,
designers are reviving it for creative kitchens and baths.
Encaustic tile was the “latest middle class fad” in the third
quarter of the 19th century, says Park Slope-based tile expert
Michael Padwee. “It became the fashion to have tiles
all over the house.”
Encaustic tile looks different from other tile because it’s
not glazed. Instead, encaustic tile is pigmented all the way
through. If you break, say, a solid blue tile in half, it will
be blue on the inside. Ordinary tile, by contrast, has all its
color and pattern on the surface — in the glaze.
In Brooklyn’s 19th century row houses, fired-clay tiles in
drabs and brights enrich parlor-floor vestibules. Encaustic
tiles “create a bright and warm effect as you’re walking in,”
says Padwee. The tiles also appear in fireplace hearths and,
occasionally, hallway floors.
Encaustic tile is durable, which is why medieval monks
and Victorians used it for floors. Lately, architects and
designers have been using it for backsplashes and accent
walls in kitchens, baths and living rooms.
Encaustic tile can be made of fired clay or compressed
layers of concrete and cement. The more intricate patterns
are inlaid, or “encaustic” — hence the name. An artisan
presses a pattern into a tile with a mold, then fills in the
shapes with cement or clay in contrasting colors.
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Photos by Susan De Vries.
Brooklyn Historical Society’s entry hall is paved in encaustic tile.