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Cuban Mortar Tiles
Chapter 2: History of tiles:
From European roots to their arrival in Havana
The short but intense life of the hydraulic tile industry
The mosaico hidráulico had a comparatively short life in the history of building
products. Born as a semi-industrial product in the late 1850s in either Spain or
France 1 , it died in mainstream construction less than a century later. Its ‘salad
days’ were the last years of the 19th century and early decades of the 20th
during which it travelled and settled in Europe, the Middle East, Central and
South America, the United States, the Caribbean, Vietnam and Latin America.
In early 20th Century Cuba the mosaico hidráulico fl ourished in a country avid
for decoration, with a building boom, a strong artisan tradition and an
appetite for business. Mosaico hidráulico companies multiplied and in a short
period of perhaps thirty years the ornamental tiles had covered Cuban fl oors
throughout the island.
Mosaicos hidráulicos before Cuba
Fabrication of the mosaico hidráulico had early roots in 17th and 18th century
Italy in which imitation marble tiles had been made using a compacted lime
mixture pressed onto an iron bench, with successive layers of colour added and
polished by hand. A more industrial version of the product was made possible
with the invention and rapid commercialisation of “Portland” cement, patented in
England 1824 by Joseph Aspdin. Cheaper, more easily manipulated, hardening
more quickly than lime and natural cements, “Portland” cement allowed faster,
industrialised production of the tiles, even while part of the fabrication process
remained (and indeed still remains) by hand. An early (semi)industrial process
dedicated to the product was developed by Butsems and Sola & Cia in Spain
in 1856. Companies followed such as Orsola Sola, Salvador Bulet y Cia and
Escofet y Cia (founded in 1886). 2
The mosaico hidráulico was greeted with great excitement in Spain with critics
hailing the product as the ultimate combination of Art and Industry, claiming that
1.J.de las Cuevas notes Spain, but others according to website www.concrete-cottage.com quote
France. IPC notes the term brasaje comes from the French word brassage meaning union.
2. Started as Escofet, becoming Escofet, Fortuny y Cia in 1886, then Escofet, Terjera y Cia in 1895,
Escofet y Cia S en C in 1904 and fi nally E.F Escofet y Cia S en C in 1905. Libro Premios Nacional
Diseno Escofet
Introduction + Methodology
the ideas of William Morris had found expression in the humble baldosa. 3 Tile
companies circulated lavishly printed catalogues with coloured lithographs
describing this new product and accentuating its prestigiousness. 4 Escofet Catalogue
no 6 of 1900 included designs by famous artists and architects such as
Luis Domenech y Montener and was considered a major example of industrial
modernism. 5 In Spain, baldosa hidráulica fl oors were used at fi rst in high-end
mansions of the rich bourgeoisie, with the material gradually expanding across
the social scale as it became more widely available through cheaper
production largely due to the invention and subsequent improvement of the
hydraulic press.
The mosaico hidráulico allowed ornate and colourful fl oors to be produced far
more cheaply than ever before. Previously such decorative complexity could
only be achieved with either “Roman” mosaics or with ceramic tiles. The manufacturing
process of the baldosa hidráulica was far less labour-intensive and
time-consuming than that of ceramic tiles which required a separate fi ring for
each colour. 6 The laying of a baldosa hidráulica fl oor was commensurate with
ceramic tile fl oor but a far simpler operation than the highly skilled, labourintensive
formation of “Roman” mosaic fl oors. Highly decorative fl oors were
therefore available to the general public at much lower cost than before. In
addition, the baldosa hidraulica provided a fl oor as enviably shiny as marble,
but its material cost was much lower. The manufacturing process permitted
patterns quickly to follow the newest design styles. A new line of fl ooring could
be developed, and large quantities of repeated tiles could be rolled out from a
couple of new ‘trepas’.
The founding of Escofet coincided with founding of the fi rst mortar tile factories
in Cuba 7 . Spanish and Catalan tiles were imported to Cuba from this time and
well into the 20th century even as the Cubans began to produce their own.
Escofet tiles for instance can be seen all over Cuba in many a building
constructed in the late teens and 20s. Early Cuban tiles struggled to compete
against the easy availability of the Spanish imports but the Cuban building
boom of the early 20th century created a demand which allowed imports and
Cuban-produced tiles to co-exist and the Cuban tile industry to fl ourish.
3 Alexandre de Riquier quoted in Pitarch y Dalmases Balana “Arte y Industria en Espana 1774-
1907”
4. Instituto de Promocion de la Ceramica (IPC)
5. Pitarch y Dalmases Balana “Arte y Industria en Espana 1774-1907”
6.Yamira Rodriguez Marcano “Havana Tiles”
7.“La Industria Cubana de Materiales de Construcción”, Juan de las Cuevas