This small manuscript, The Aloha Boathouse and the Iris Bathroom: Two Installations by Grueby Faience and Tile Company, contains two essays by Susan J. Montgomery and more than seventy-five full-color illustrations of two reconstructed Grueby tile installations and their history. Both installations have been restored and will be reassembled in their entirety for public exhibition in the soon to be built Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Arthur Curtiss James built the boathouse Aloha Landing in 1912 at his Newport, Rhode Island, estate, with the ceramic tile floor as the focal point. Created by the Boston-based Grueby Faience and Tile Company, the floor featured tile pieces that depicted James's yacht, the Aloha, as well as eighteen other sailing ships. Grueby's shop, which operated between 1891 to 1919, was famous for its faience, or glazed terra cotta, as well as its tile work. The company built major residential and commercial installations, but only a handful of these projects has survived. In 2003, when Aloha Landing was scheduled to undergo major renovation, TRRF helped remove and preserve the entire tile floor.
The Iris Bathroom was another project by the Grueby Faience and Tile Company. In the mid-1910s, almost twelve hundred tiles were installed in the Ina and Oliver Clay House in Bratenahl, Ohio. The tiles created the scene of a lily-covered pond, hedged with long-stemmed irises. Between 2004 and 2005, the tiles were removed and reconstructed for historic preservation and public exhibition by TRRF.