Bethesda Terrace Tiles – Central Park
From the exhibition Saving Place: 50 Years of New York City Landmarks
There are two new tiles and two original tiles from Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, restored in 2000. On the ceiling of the oft-photographed arcade there are 15,000 tiles, manufactured by the Minton Tile Company in England, designed by British-born architect and designer Jacob Wrey Mould. According to the Central Park Conservancy, “Encaustic tiles, originally created to cover floors, are made of individual colored clays pressed and fired into the tile to form the design. Bethesda arcade is the only place in the world where these Minton tiles are used for a ceiling.”
As you can see from the photograph, the older tiles are slightly thicker at 7/8″, and the new at 5/16″.
