Any city walker knows the delight that a flash of colorful ornament can bestow on an otherwise gray promenade. These glazed splashes of vivid yellows, greens, cobalt blues, and metallic lusters often are made of terra cotta, which, for more than one hundred years, has been an integral - but largely unrecognizedpart of America's architectural legacy.

Terra-Cotta Skyline reveals these architectural treasures in more than seventy-five color images commissioned exclusively for this book, as well as more than one hundred rare documents, drawings, and previously unpublished archival photographs.

Accompanying text based on extensive research into the history of terra cotta provides anecdotes and insights into the working methods of the architects, sculptors, and artisans who designed with terra cotta - and the entrepreneurs and laborers involved in its manufacture. Terra-Cotta Skyline also tells of the efforts of determined current-day preservationists to protect this threatened part of our architectural heritage.