page_title: Western use of the swastika in the early 20th century
section_title: Swastika tiles
hierarchical_section_title: Western use of the swastika in the early 20th century / North America / United States / Swastika tiles
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of good luck symbols, including swastikas, in the HPER building (School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation) of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
context_page_description: The swastika is an ancient Indo-European religious symbol with the earliest known example found in Mezine, modern Ukraine, that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross with four legs each bent at 90 degrees in either right-facing form or its mirrored left-facing form. It is considered to be a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism and dates back at least 11,000 years.
  The swastika symbol became a popular symbol of luck in the Western world in the early 20th century, as it had long been in Asia, and was often used for ornamentation. The Nazi Party adopted the symbol in the 1920s, and its use in Western countries faded after the Nazi association became dominant in the 1930s. In recent decades many public swastikas have been removed or covered over, although others have been deliberately retained as part of debate about historical preservation.
context_section_description: Ceramic tiles with a swastika design were produced by a number of North American manufacturers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were often installed in repeating patterns or in combination with related ancient symbols. In western architecture, pre-World War II swastika tiles are typically a minor decorative element and have only become prominent when their original intent or symbolic meaning has been re-interpreted.
  Swastika tiles adorn the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton, in a room built in the 1930s. A newspaper article in The Press of Atlantic City notes that the statehouse tiles were created by the local Mueller Mosaic Company. Led by Herman Carl Mueller, the firm used an innovative technique that combined glazing and deep carving to create a photographic-like sense of depth. The tiles were installed throughout the United States and Canada. The swastika design was only one of many different symbols featured in the Mueller catalogue.
  A Detroit columnist in 2015 began a campaign to remove swastika tiles from the Detroit Athletic Club, designed by Jewish architect Albert Kahn in 1915.
  Reprints of tile catalogues, including the 1930 Mueller Mosaic Faience Tile Inserts catalogue are available from the non-profit California based Tile Heritage Foundation. Swastika tiles are also featured in the 1920 catalogue from Wheatley Pottery Company of Cincinnati Ohio, the 1928 catalogue from the Cambridge-Wheatley Company of Covington, Kentucky, which marketed Wheatley tiles and a 1930s catalogue from the Franklin Pottery Company of Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
  The Mueller tiles with swastika design can be found at the St. James Episcopal Church (1927), and the Immanuel Presbyterian Church (1928). in Los Angeles.
  In May 2006, five terra cotta tiles were removed from St. Mary's Cathedral in St. Cloud Minnesota, the oldest parish in the community. The upper church, constructed in the late 1920s, included a number of decorative tiles including a series of ten that depicted ancient forms of the cross. Located near the eaves, the tiles represented the crux gammata, also known as the Gammadion, "hooked cross". The five swastika tiles alternated with a related design featuring the Lauburu or "Basque cross". The upper church's final design was created by the local architectural firm of Nairne W. Fisher, who had fought against Germany during World War I. Three of the tiles were destroyed in the process of removal, one was put on permanent display at the church. The removal was prompted in part by criticism from some current and former faculty at St. Cloud State University, where the university's electronic diversity newsletter featured a series of articles  that claimed by 1920 it was already "the symbol of Aryan conquest and mastery."
  Other Catholic Cathedrals that include swastika tiles among their decorations include: Saint Joseph Cathedral, Wheeling, West Virginia, a Romanesque design by architect Edward J. Weber of Pittsburgh, completed in 1925; St. Colman's Cathedral, built between 1868 and 1925 overlooking the port city of Cobh Ireland. Christ Church Cathedral , New Zealand, constructed in the 1880s. The Cathedral of Tampico, Tamaulipas, completed in the late 19th century with additional remodelling . A tile floor at Hereford Cathedral in England is laid out in a swastika like pattern with arms pointed to the right. The floor at Amiens Cathedral in France features a right-facing swastika pattern with shortened arms, similar to the St. Cloud tiles. A popular tourist destination, Amiens is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
  The Plummer House in Rochester, Minnesota includes swastika tiles. The five-story home was constructed beginning in 1917 by Dr. Henry Plummer, a prominent figure in the history of the Mayo Clinic. The home was designed by Thomas Ellerbe, a second generation architect whose firm is now known as Ellerbe Becket. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975.
  In 2008, school officials decided not to remove swastika floor tiles with left-facing arms from a Duluth, Minnesota e
caption: Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington swastikas
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