Tag Archives: Clay City Tile

Gaston Building

(Courtesy of Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Online Archive)

Recently, I came across this photograph of 336 Fairhope Avenue under construction. Marmaduke Dyson was the contractor and the building has become a favorite of mine for its stacks of Clay City Tile. The building was completed in 1924 and was The Fairhope Courier newspaper print shop and office on the first floor and the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation office upstairs. At the building’s half century mark the first became the office and library for the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation.

Fairhope Living Article

Click this Clay City Tile link to read my article.

The Peoples Cooperative Store is a Clay City Tile building. Built in 1922, it’s currently for sale for more that $1 million. Rumors of its demolition are circulating. The west wall (FEEF Mural) is buckling and I hear on the street the building can’t be saved. I’m no engineer, but someone who should take a look at it. Hopefully, they will discover that the stucco is just a false front. The stucco was added later using wood strapping and wire. Water may have gotten behind the stucco, but the load-bearing made of Clay City Tile wall behind it may be fine. Of course, I’m not the property owner. I’m just a historian who wants the building preserved.

Clay City Tile Guy

That’s what a few people have called me over the years. I started my research in 2007. Once completed, and placed in a few public library collections, I gave a few presentations. I gave talks at Fairhope and Daphne Public Library. I even gave a presentation as part of the Fairhope Single Tax Lecture Series in 2006. It’s available on the Fairhope Single Tax Online Archives’ YouTube channel.