Villeroy & Boch encaustic floor tiles from the Philander C. Hanford house at 2008 S. Calumet Avenue, Chicago. The Jack Simmerling Collection at Glessner House contains one tile, which has been reproduced here twelve times to show the repeat. Each tile measures 6-5/8 inches square, is 3/4 inch thick, and weighs nearly three pounds. Villeroy & Boch, still known today for its high-quality porcelain dinnerware, began making encaustic floor and wall tiles in 1869.
The Hanford house, completed in 1883, was designed by the firm of Jaffray and Scott, comprised of architect Henry S. Jaffray and designer Isaac E. Scott, who oversaw the interior decoration. It was built for Philander Chase Hanford, owner of the Hanford Oil Company, who tragically committed suicide in 1894 after business reverses. The house sat fully furnished, but unoccupied, for nearly sixty years until it was demolished in 1953 following a devastating fire. The 17-year-old Jack Simmerling salvage the tile and other fragments of the interior soon after the fire.