Past and Present: The History of Terrazzo

Terrazzo has quite the interesting history, with roots all over the globe. We&#;re going to take a quick dip into the history books and look at how terrazzo made its way to America.

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To look at the beginnings of terrazzo we have to go more back more than 500 years, to Italy. While marble was the material of choice at the time, Venetian construction workers began mixing scraps from upscale jobs with clay to create inexpensive flooring for their own homes and patios. Though it may sound crazy, they discovered that to bring out the shine of the marble scraps they could seal the flooring with goat&#;s milk. Now, installation techniques and materials have changed dramatically&#;don&#;t worry, we won&#;t be pouring goat&#;s milk for your next floor &#; and we have advanced to a variety of sealants from the popular epoxy to the more rustic monolithic terrazzo.

While credit is given to the Italians, as it is widely recognized that terrazzo was invented by the Venetians, some archaeologists have found evidence of terrazzo-like floors in ruins in Turkey that date back 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. We like to think that makes terrazzo the original sustainable flooring.

So, how did we go from goat&#;s milk in Italy, to terrazzo in the north central states? Terrazzo first came to America in the late 18th century. Many monuments and historic American buildings feature terrazzo flooring&#;including George Washington&#;s home, Mt. Vernon. It soon became a widely used product due to the amount of marble in America and the continuous advancements in terrazzo installation techniques that made it faster and more durable than many other flooring choices.

By the mid-20th century, terrazzo installation had seen significant changes with the introduction of electric grinders and epoxy materials that opened up myriad possibilities for more intricate designs and vibrant colors. The flexibility of epoxy terrazzo helped overcome issues like cracking, common in cement-based installations. This allowed for the creation of expansive, seamless, and colorful floors that have stood the test of time.

Today, terrazzo can consist of durable materials such as marble, quartz, granite, recycled glass, porcelain, concrete, and metal aggregates. These materials are mixed with cement or epoxy and polished to produce a sustainable, smooth, and uniformly textured surface that will last for years to come. If you would like to know more about the ever-changing new ways we&#;re using terrazzo, you can head over to our Industry Uses for more in-depth details.

Terrazzo descended directly from simplified forms of centuries-old styles of marble mosaics that were used in Venice by the mid-15th century. Today&#;s highly evolved terrazzo is an environmentally friendly material that combines extraordinary design potential, optimum durability, and low maintenance. Not surprising, Terrazzo is the lowest cost flooring material available based on its long life cycle.

&#;Green&#; from the Beginning

Terrazzo was created when resourceful Venetian mosaic workers discovered a way to reuse marble remnants. With odd-size chips, they began to build terraces around their living quarters. Techniques for leveling these surfaces progressed from rubbing with a stone by hand, to the development of long-handled, weighted grinding stone, called a galera. The first sealer for terrazzo was discovered when workers noticed that a coating of goat milk brought out the rich colors and sheen of the marble.

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The Immigration of an Industry

The terrazzo and mosaic industry in 16th century Italy was practically the monopoly of craftsmen from the Fruili region. This industry has remained remarkably intact, held by the families from this area through many generations and through the shifting of the entire industry to North America. The first terrazzo in the US was laid by Italian craftsmen in in the Vanderbilt residence on Fifth Avenue in New York. At that time, mosaics had also been recently introduced in the US, and were generally preferred over terrazzo. Then, between and , three million Italians immigrated to the US. Terrazzo and mosaic workers, because their work was so highly skilled and valued, were regarded as the aristocracy of the immigrant labor force. The terazzeri, as these workers were called, were regarded as true artists; they jealously guarded the secrets of their craft, handing them down from father to son. These family businesses built a powerful network of firms that expanded the terrazzo trade, and dominated the market across the US.

Terrazzo in the s: Ready for Prime Time!

In the post-World War I era, Terrazzo became a flooring of choice in the US, suddenly overtaking and replacing the use of marble mosaics, for several reasons. Architects in the &#;20s were the first to recognize the vast design potential of terrazzo. For the smooth, curvilinear Art Deco/Modern styles of the period, terrazzo happened to be the ideal medium. Furthermore, the invention of the electric grinder in brought about a finer finish, greater speed and accuracy, and lowered costs, all contributing to the spread of terrazzo across the US. Many of the country&#;s most noteworthy buildings, stunning examples of classic design, craftsmanship and durability, were built with terrazzo, including the State Building, Radio City Music Hall and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Also in , terrazzo and mosaic contractors from across the US banded together and created the National Terrazzo and Mosaic Contractors Association. Today, this collaborative group of artisan-craftsmen is known as the National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association, Inc.

Divide and Conquer: Functional Beauty

Yet another mid-20s advance in terrazzo came with the availability of brass divider strips, which made possible the creation of highly artistic, intricate patterns and designs in terrazzo floors. From the early forms of terrazzo, divider strips, beginning with wood and evolving to marble along with zinc metal and even plastic, have allowed for expansion and contraction of the surface to prevent cracking. Today, terrazzo flooring continues to provide the ultimate in durability and low maintenance, design versatility and beauty, typically lasting the life of the building. The combination of unique beauty, durability, and low maintenance has led to a renaissance in the use of terrazzo over the past decade.

Vintage Terrazzo Catalogs

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