Uruguay art nouveau decorative tiles are part of a bigger puzzle. City itself and a conceptual puzzle, industrialism and housing type.

We are in South America in Uruguay in 1853 and the Guerra Grande  has ended.
The industrial era and modernity begins. The city walls are demolished and a new road grid extended, added to that preexistent city. The great Boulevard Artigas enclosed it, and this new piece was called the Ciudad Novisima that means Newest city.

The Boulevard, the blocks, dimensions and green areas were done according with the urban planning ideas of that years.
The concepts of hygiene leisure as well the demanding needs of high and better mobility of industrial world defined the city form.
The CENTER now is the city. The city is the market but also is a mercancy that will be avidly exploited by visionary men like Piria and Reus. These two men have founded entire areas for looting and selling. So the grid once in plans now is done reality. That is, got built.
We are now in 1900.
All should be a part of a puzzle, or better said a machine. The main grid was formed by almost identical blocks and predial frontal dimension so.
As the city, the housing type too.
Houses are built in stages and in modular entities,  a 4 x 4 x 4 meters, approximately 14 feet  cubes one attached to another.
The party was that  cube void cube cube void a succession of cubes and voids to allow air and sun entrance, these voids have a great importance for us and are called PATIOS.
This simplicity was determined by the building components that allowed a fast construction, the 4 meters module was determined by the maximum allowed for a steel beam to resist without deformation the beams supported the roof that was plain and formed by large hollow bricks called bobedillas. This all was supported by thick 1 1/2 feet walls and all that weight was drawn to soil through stone masive basements,  then the wooden floors and woden doors and windows.  Iron balconies claraboyasand door accessories  and of curse what interest us the tiles.

 Tiles were imported from Belgium France UK Germany Czech and others.
Were applied on hall entrances called zaguan and in patios.
The Zaguan was not a wide receptive square shaped area,  was more like a corridor with 2 doors and its function is to start the SPINE that connect all the house through the patios and habitations of  4 x 4 x 4  meters.
Was as narrow as possible so as not to subtract facade area.
The patio was a square area a place of reunion and has no roof but a glass ceiling that could be displaced to let air in.
Decorative tiles were applied in these two areas. Due to high traffic these areas have no wooden floors but encaustic ones. So as to protect the walls from intense traffic, chair backs humidity rain, remember patios were partially closed areas, is that patios were covered with 4 feet tall ceramic decorative tiles frisos.

These tiles were imported from Europe and sold in local building supplier’s barracks.
Between 1850 and 1900 the Victorian and Spaniard Valencia ones were  rather  and between 1900 and 1915 there was a great preference by art nouveau style that dominated the applied arts culture in that years.
But the Art nouveau decorative tiles were not a compact pure product but shades and different variants existed but we leave that for another guide.
Art Nouveau period extents to the 1920 where Art Deco irrupts in my country till early 30 ies with International style.
This period ends leaving us a vast material legacy, a very important area of Montevideo city was built and preserved till our days due to low density that means low demand of central areas and little demolition.
But  most important in preservation of this legacy is the fact of the flexible housing type.
This housing type 4 x 4 x 4 is so flexible so machine era like that can be adapted to new housing demands, added to this is the quality of the components, iron frames looks intact doors are as firm as 100 years ago were  and tiles well you can see by yourself .  So is better to refine an old house than built a new one.

Hope you enjoyed this guide I will add pictures soon as well revise it.
Written by Weinstijl