b. 1856 d. 1930
Site Affiliation: Fonthill Castle
Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), born in Doylestown, PA, was an American archaeologist, anthropologist, tilemaker, collector, and scholar. Mercer’s passions included architecture, art, archaeology, and history. Mercer built Fonthill Castle as his home and showplace for his famed Moravian tiles produced during the height of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. He later constructed the Mercer Museum to preserve and display a vast collection of everyday objects from pre-Industrial America.
Primary Medium: Ceramics
Primary Stylistic Term: Arts & Crafts Movement
HAHS Affiliations: Tiles by Mercer are installed in the interiors at Saarinen House and Dorothy Riester’s Hilltop House at Stone Quarry Art Park.
Recommended Publications: November Night Tales by Henry Chapman Mercer (1928); Henry Chapman Mercer and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works by Cleota Reed (1987); Fonthill the Home of Henry Chapman Mercer: An American Architectural Treasure by Thomas G. Poos (2000); Ancient Carpenters’ Tools: Illustrated and Explained, Together with the Implements of the Lumberman, Joiner and Cabinet-Maker in Use in the Eighteenth Century by Henry C. Mercer (2000)