Ludowici Roof Tile

Carl Ludowici was a machinist in Ensheim, Germany and in 1857 he purchased a local roof tile factory and upgraded it with machines of his own design, founding the Carl Ludowici Ziegelwerke. The firm moved to a factory in Ludwigshafen in 1861 and slowly grew, largely due to the innovative nature of Ludowici's steam-powered tile press. After Carl's death in 1881, his sons Wilhelm and Franz took over the company, with Franz taking over business management and Wilhelm leading design and development. The company largely relocated to Jockgrim, where it grew into one of the major German tile manufacturers of its era.[2][3]

In 1893 the Ludowicis licensed their patents and designs to the newly formed Ludowici Roofing Tile Company of Chicago. This company exhibited tiles at the World's Columbian Exposition that year and with its factory in Chicago Heights grew to become a leading producer of roof tiles by the turn of the century.[4][5]

Ludowici built a factory in the unincorporated community of Liberty City, Georgia in 1902. As a tribute to the company, the city was incorporated as Ludowici, Georgia in 1905.

Celadon Company office building seen in 2012

In 1888 a sculpting professor at Alfred University in Alfred, New York, found that the local supply of clay was well-suited for ornamental sculpting work, and found other local investors to form the Celadon Terra Cotta Company, named for the green hue the clay took on when salt-fired.[6] After visiting a friend in the area, George Herman Babcock became interested in the possibilities of terra cotta and bought stock, eventually becoming president of the company. As president he filed patents for multiple profiles of tile, such as the Conosera tile and unique combination tiles with different designs but a standard base, allowing for multiple styles of interlocking tile to be used on the same roof.[7][8]

Babcock died in 1893, but the company continued to grow as it shifted focus towards roofing tile, and was renamed the Celadon Roofing Tile Company in 1900.[9] Shortly after this the New York State School of Clay-Working and Ceramics was established at Alfred University after lobbying by Celadon executives and others. The presence of this school allowed the company to collaborate with leading ceramicists of the time such as Charles Fergus Binns, who did extensive consulting work with Celadon.[10]

The Celadon Company purchased the Imperial Clay Company in 1905 and gained its factory in New Lexington, Ohio.[11]

Remains of the Alfred, New York factory after fire, December 1909

In 1906 the companies merged to form the Ludowici-Celadon Company.[12] A plant in Coffeyville, Kansas was purchased in 1908, and in 1909 the factory in Alfred, New York burned to the ground. The company never rebuilt in the village, but the original Celadon Company office survived and remains there to this day.[13]

The factory in Ludowici, Georgia largely produced tiles for regional sales and had seen a decline in demand since the completion of tiles for the Panama Canal Zone. In October, 1913 the factory closed, and the next month the Ludowici-Celadon factory in Chicago Heights burned down, leaving the company with only its factories in New Lexington and Coffeyville.[14][15]

Ludowici-Celadon's New Lexington, Ohio factory around 1910

The company grew through the first quarter of the century and was helped by the popularity of traditional terra cotta in architecture of the 1920s. To tap into this interest Ludowici-Celadon released The Tuileries Brochures in 1929, which contained articles written by leading architects of the time about heritage building styles.[16]

During World War II the company suffered from a decline in domestic construction and supplemented its limited production of roof tile by temporarily opening pottery divisions in New Lexington and Coffeyville. Among other things these produced licensed cookie jars for Walt Disney.[17]

In 1956 the factory in Coffeyville, Kansas was closed due to declining demand for terra cotta tile, and in 1976 Ludowici-Celadon was purchased by CSC Inc. of Chicago.[18][19] The company saw growth in the 1980s with a growing interest in historic restoration, and in 1986 sponsored a competition and exhibit with the National Building Museum on architectural terra cotta ornamentation.[20] CSC sold Ludowici-Celadon to CertainTeed, a division of Saint-Gobain, in 1989.[21]

CertainTeed shortened Ludowici-Celadon's name to Ludowici Roof Tile in 1994. Around 2002 Ludowici's management was transferred from CertainTeed to Terreal, another Saint-Gobain subsidiary. When Terreal spun off from Saint-Gobain in 2003, Ludowici went with it.[22]

Ludowici introduced wall cladding tile and in 2007 it opened its first showroom in a renovated former shipping building at its New Lexington factory.[23] A larger showroom was opened in Dallas, Texas in 2019 to act as a showcase for architects and designers in that area.[24] In 2022 it was announced that Terreal intended to sell most of its businesses, including Ludowici, to Wienerberger of Austria.[25]