Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (Italian: [ˌtɛrraˈkɔtta]; lit. 'baked earth'; from Latin terra cocta 'cooked earth'), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware objects of certain types, as set out below.
Usage and definitions of the term vary, such as:
The Wainwright Building (also known as the Wainwright State Office Building) is a 10-story, 41 m (135 ft) terra cotta office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The Wainwright Building is considered to be one of the first aesthetically fully expressed early skyscrapers. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan and built between 1890 and 1891. It was named for local brewer, building contractor, and financier Ellis Wainwright.
The building, listed as a landmark both locally and nationally, is described as "a highly influential prototype of the modern office building" by the National Register of Historic Places. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright called the Wainwright Building "the very first human expression of a tall steel office-building as Architecture."
Oakland City Hall is the seat of government for the city of Oakland, California. The current building was completed in 1914, and replaced a prior building that stood on what is now Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Standing at the height of 320 feet (98 m), it was the first high-rise government building in the United States. At the time it was built, it was also the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. The City Hall is depicted on the city seal of Oakland.
The building was designed by New York–based architecture firm Palmer & Hornbostel in 1910, after winning a nationwide design competition. The building, constructed in the Beaux-Arts style, resembles a "rectangular wedding cake". It consists of three tiers. The bottom tier serves the foundation. It is three stories high and houses the mayor's office, the city council chamber, hearing rooms, and a police station with a firing range below in the basement. The thinner second tier follows; it is a ten-story office tower. The top floor of this section (the 12th floor) houses a 36-cell jail with an outdoor yard that has gone unused since the 1960s. Above the second tier is the two-story podium with a clock tower on top. The exterior is built of white granite and terra cotta, while the inside is built of white and black marble. The building was nicknamed "Mayor Mott's wedding cake" after former Oakland Mayor Frank Kanning Mott, a key player in passing the bond to pay for the new City Hall, who was married the same year construction began.
The Chicago Building or Chicago Savings Bank Building is an early skyscraper, built in 1904–1905. It is located at 7 West Madison Street in Chicago. Designed by the architecture firm Holabird & Roche, it is an early and highly visible example of the Chicago school of architecture.
The building's features characterize this style through the use of large "Chicago windows", metal frame construction, distinctive bays, and terra cotta cladding. The combination of the north side projecting bay windows, and the east side rectangular "Chicago windows" with movable sashes is representative of the two typical Chicago school window types. The building is prominently located on the southwest corner of State Street and Madison Street, with visibility increased by an offset in the alignment of State Street.