Terracotta highlights
The Ecology Gallery, off Waterhouse Way, is an excellent location to see some of Waterhouse’s terracotta ornaments. Some of the pictures shown here are Waterhouse’s original drawings.
Waterhouse laid out detailed sketches for how he wanted his team of sculptors to create the terracotta ornaments for the building.
The sketches were given to a Monsieur Dujardin who worked with a team of sculptors to create statues from which the ornaments could be made.
Waterhouse’s sketches were very detailed. He worked to achieve scientific accuracy and asked for a professor to check his likenesses.
To create the ornaments, liquid clay was put into moulds that had been shaped around Mr Dujardin’s statues. These were then fired in a kiln and fitted onto the building.
The ornaments that form a part of the Museum’s fabric were created as Waterhouse envisioned, true to his original sketches.