Terracotta ornaments

Waterhouse’s plan to clad the entire building in terracotta was pioneering and a world first. Terracotta is a clay best known for making garden pots.

Working with a highly-skilled team of designers and engineers, Waterhouse produced 202 sketches for terracotta ornaments – this one is of a panel on the main staircase of the Central Hall .

Original plans, and a recently-acquired album of sketches, reveal that a Monsieur Dujardin was responsible for turning these detailed sketches into hundreds of ornaments.

An ornament is created - 01/01/2005 (video)

See how Monsieur Dujardin and his team of sculptors created these astonishing terracotta ornaments in this video clip.
Using terracotta

Learn more about Waterhouse’s innovative use of terracotta, where he derived his inspiration, and how the building has been maintained.
Designing the ornaments

Find out more about Waterhouse’s designs and his painstaking attention to detail.