Colorado list reaches 100
With Arvada and Merino supplying identified Meskers #99 and #100, Colorado becomes the latest state to reach the 100 Meskers plateau, joining Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas. Iowa should be there soon with 94 currently on the list while New York is also within reach with 76 documented facades. The Mesker from Merino, the … Read more
Crescent City Rivals
Meskers had many competitors over the years. Some were imitators, with varying degrees of success, while others were innovators in their own right. But only one competing enterprise was begun by three former employees of George L. Mesker & Co. The International Steel & Iron Construction Company of Evansville, Indiana (and later Chicago, Illinois) was … Read more
Mississippi Found
In order to be considered a “Mesker Magnet,” my invented though no less official designation for towns with sizable groupings of Mesker facades, a community must have at least ten surviving examples (or nine really cool ones, as in the original list from just over a year ago). During a recent road trip, a fellow … Read more
Columns in a cluster
One of several idiosyncratic features of galvanized upper story facades by the Mesker Brothers Iron Works is the pairing of columns between the windows. While this motif would have been a popular architectural feature and the inspiration for its use could have come from anywhere, Bernard Mesker nonetheless noted the idea on several printed plates … Read more
Mesker Brothers column base replicas
Earlier this year I wanted to explore replicating Mesker Brothers Iron Works column bases, with the idea of complimenting the middle ornament that’s already available in cast aluminum, and eventually completing a set of all three ornamental pieces for a six-inch wide column. Each base is a separate attachment bolted to the column, and serves … Read more
Kentucky list tops 100
With four buildings from Bowling Green recently added to the database, Kentucky finally breaks the mark for 100 identified Mesker facades. And it’s about time too – Kentuckians purchased quite a bit of Mesker products, particularly those manufactured in Evansville by George L. Mesker & Co. In a 1905 testimonials catalog, the company claimed the … Read more
Trick or treat?
Halloween seems like a perfect holiday for celebrating Mesker facades. In most instances they are integral to the construction where their removal would leave a building faceless. In others, however, they are installed over existing buildings and can be analogous to costumes (at least on Halloween), allowing to disguise building identities behind masks of steel. … Read more
Seashell from Amboise
Abstracted and stylized floral designs and patterns dominated the design vocabulary of both Mesker companies, and American architectural ornamentation during the Victorian period in general. Nonetheless, a few aquatic-related ornaments also found their way onto Mesker fronts, as was the case with the “dolphin panel.” Another such motif was a seashell. Like the dolphin, the … Read more
Supporting cast
Mesker Brothers Iron Works may be best known for their ornamental upper facades of galvanized pressed metal, but perhaps their most inventive architectural offering was to be found at the storefront level. While the overwhelming standard in the storefront construction industry were columns made of cast iron, Mesker Brothers designed and patented columns made of … Read more
49th State
It was one of the original thirteen states that founded the United States of America, but thanks to a rather interesting Mesker Brothers Iron Works facade in Lancaster, New Hampshire becomes the forty-ninth state with at least one identified Mesker. Other states with just one example are Alaska, Nevada and Vermont. Hawaii is the only remaining state without any documented … Read more
