Encaustic Street Tiles
Many of the streets in New Orleans are labeled with while tiles with blue letters. These are called “Encaustic” tiles, which means the lettering is clay dust fired with the tile, not dyed or painted, then glazed. These were likely made by the American Encaustic Tile Company of Ohio and New York.
That company went out of business in 1935, so the original tiles are at least 75 years old.
Like the Sewage & Water Board meter cap, there exists an entire design industry utilizing this motif. You can buy coasters, T-Shirts, trivets, there was even a Facebook page.
Being that these tiles are scarce and replicas are pretty expensive, sometimes you do what you gotta do to work with an old idea.
But notice that this is at Seventh St.
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