Nutting Block

More from our brief visit to the historic district of Northfield yesterday.

I just love the intricate details on old buildings and Nutting Block doesn't disappoint.  Above is the top half of the building, which doesn't show street level.

I'm also interested in the history of antique building materials.  Just below the top view is a bunch of glass tiles.  I saw that there was something written on some of the tiles, so I took the documentary photo below in order to look it up later.  I was shooting into the sun, so these tiles looked quite dark since the face of the building was in shade.  It wasn't until after I looked at the image that I saw some of the tiles have a pretty design on them.

These Luxfer Prism glass tiles were designed and patented by Frank Lloyd Wright!  They must have been added afterward because Nutting Block was built in 1893 and the patent on this particular tile design is 1897.  The tiles were designed to let in more light, since most buildings didn't have electric lighting yet.