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Cuban Mortar Tiles
In the early days tiles were imported to Cienfuegos from Barcelona (fi g 9 shows
the impression made by the ‘Escofet’ mark), subsequently also from Havana 8 ,
the imports continuing even after the founding of the many Cienfuegos mosaico
hidraulico factories. The quality of the mosaico hidraulico fl oors in the grand
mansions certainly refl ects the buying power of the rich early 20th century
clients. But well-made fl oor tiles can be seen in many a humbler home (fi g
41), indicating that tiles of good standard were probably produced nearby and
therefore available at relatively low cost. There were certainly fi ve local producers
of a size suffi ciently large to be mentioned, or even afford advertisements, in
provincial periodicals. These were as follows 9 :
“El Arte Industrial” founded 1924 Maximo Gomez 151-153 by Sr Luis F Oltra y
Llorens (photgraph of advertisement) 10
“La Industrial” owned by Francisco Diego Madrazo y Cia: Ofi cinas Arguelles #9,
Cienfuegos 11
Fabrica de Losetas: Sureda S en Cienfuegos. San Carlos y Avango1 2
Fabrica de Losetas: Ostra Y Cia en Cienfuegos, Marti 40 13
Manuel Busto, Castillo 19, Cienfuegos founded in 1926 14
Not only did the continuing wealth of the city contribute to the quality and
opulence of its construction, but it has been saidthat Cienfuegos had a
particularly strong tradition of fi ne artisanship from its very beginnings. The City
Historian notes that the French who founded the city (under Spanish rule) on
22 April 1819 “arrived with a full set of skilled workers”. 15 Certainly there is little
evidence in the historic centre of the very rustic mortar tile seen in Trinidad,
since well-made sophisticated tiles were available as standard from a number of
established local producers.
8. From La Cubana factory, Havana, according to David Soler, Director of Interpretation of Heritage,
interview June 2009.
9. D. Soler mentioned a mosaico hidraulico factory founded as early as 1886 which continued until
the 1980’s, and the provincial museum contains an Art Nouveau style border tile described as “19th
Century”. However, this author was unable to fi nd further documentary evidence to confi rm these
dates.
10. J. de las Cuvas “Materials de Construction”. Also advertisement in “Album Resumen Ilustrado –
Industrial, Comercial, Profesional, Cultural, Social y de Turismo Internacional” Las Villas 1st edicion
1941
11. Advertisment in La Nacion Ilustrada Edicion Cienfuegos 1909
12. “Album Resumen Ilustrado – Industrial, Comercial, Profesional, Cultural, Social y de Turismo
Internacional” Las Villas 1st edicion 1941
Santiago de Cuba
At the far eastern end of the island, Cuba’s second city nevertheless shares
many, many similar tile designs with the capital. How these designs might have
travelled across and around the island is discussed in chapter 5. In addition to
the likely imports from Havana and also from Barcelona, Santiago obtained tiles
from three of its own mosaico producers in the city itself, ‘La Santiaguera’, ‘La
Artistica’ and another factory owned by one Juan Cano. 16
Portals
Portales (large front porches) to houses in Santiago and Baracoa are part of the
house, made for sitting out in the shade and catching the available breeze.
Separate from the street yet visible from it, they are also part of the public realm
of the city (fi g 38). The material choice of the individual owner for their porch
has a signifi cant effect on the appearance of the street. Portales in the historic
centre currently present a range of mosaico hidraulico tiles from modest
chequerboard patterns to some later bolder 1950s designs, while Vista Alegre is
home to more elaborate, often textured, and more expensive tiles. The
increasing replacement of these mosaicos hidraulicos with shiny modern
ceramic tiles (as discussed later in Chapter 9) will change the appearance of
the city.
Baracoa
Banana exports in the early 20th Century gave the small and geographically
isolated town of Baracoa the wealth to adorn itself with a fi ne range of mosaico
hidraulico fl oor tiles along with a number of new buildings in the new “Eclectic”
style. Mosaico tiles replaced wooden fl oors in older colonial buildings and
were used ubiqiuitously as the fl ooring of choice in the new Eclectic buildings.
In comparatively modest Baracoa mosaico fl oors did not have to compete with
marble for pride of place in the city’s public buildings and large house salas.
Early tiles were imported from the factory ‘La Cubana’ in Havana and many,
according to the Cuty Historian, from Barcelona. By 1939 Baracoa had two of
its own factories, one belonging to Guillermo Badel, in la Pasada, and the other
owned by José Pons Prada , in Coroneles Galano. The Badel factory was in
business until the 1960s, some of the last, “jaspeado” pattern, are seen in fi g
46.
13. Ibid
14. Ibid
15. Iran Millan in conversation June 2009
Chapter 4: Across Cuba