Ticket to Spain

The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA was established by noted anthropologist, antiquarian, artist, writer, and tile-maker Henry C. Mercer, a leader in the turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts movement, in an effort to recreate early Pennsylvania pottery manufacturing techniques. The present building, built between 1911 and 1912, still functions as a manufactory of mostly architectural tiles, and was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of Interior in 1985.

The Tile Works continued Mercer’s legacy after his death in 1930. Artisans create handmade tiles based on his original designs and formulas, though they’ve tweaked the contents of the glazes to make them less toxic. When the governor visited Vatican City in 2014, he gifted the pope with a set of tiles.