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By Saxon Henry
When the Marquis de Cuevas and his wife Margaret Strong—thegranddaughter of John D. Rockefeller—bought Villa el Bravo, a circa-1930 PalmBeach home designed by John Volk, they summarily ripped up the chipped Cubantile floors in several rooms to prepare for Rudolf Nureyev’s visit, replacingthe tile with white travertine marble to give the dancer a smooth surface onwhich to dance.
The mere mention of chipped or broken tiles makes some homeownersshy away from the material, but the Cuban tile floors in the other rooms of thesame home, including the bathrooms, still look terrific even after 75-plusyears of wear and tear.
Cubans were introduced to decorative tiles in the early1800s when European ships carried them to the Island. “Within twenty years,Cubans were copying the European designs and manufacturing decorative tiles,”explained Michael Connors, author of Cuban Elegance.
Cuban tile came to Florida incrementally. According to RickHerpel, who owns Herpel Tile in Palm Beach, his grandfather William Ketchin wasthe first to manufacture them here. “He traveled to Cuba in the late 1800s tobuy tobacco seed and returned with such an appreciation for Cuban tile that hestarted producing them in Ft. Lauderdale in the late 1920s,” he explained.
Herpel, who assists The Preservation Foundation of PalmBeach with tile restoration, still manufactures the tile using the same processthat his grandfather employed: pouring cement into a steel pan and vibratingit. “This gives our tiles, which have a swirl pattern that looks similar tomarble, a smoother finish,” he said. “John Volk, Marion Smith Wyeth, HowardMajor and Kemp Caler used Ketchin tile in many of the residences theydesigned.”
Volk was indeed a fan of Cuban tile. “John went to Cuba withJames Cromwell and brought back tiles for Florida manufacturers to use asguides,” said Volk’s wife, Lillian Jane. “He was always concerned aboutauthenticity and he loved the flavor of what was then called Spanisharchitecture.”
Though architects fancied the tiles for several decades,their popularity broadened during the 1940s and 50s when American touristsvisiting Cuba brought them home. Like other Cuban immigrants, Heriberto Borrotosaw a business opportunity. He opened Cuban Tropical Tile in Miami in themid-1940s. Manuel Moreno, who was Borroto’s assistant for ten years, now ownsthe company.
Along with a swirl pattern and solid colors, Morenomanufactures patterned tiles. Varied colors of pigment are mixed with water andcement, and poured into metal molds. When the mold is lifted, a dry cementmixture is quickly packed into the mold and compressed by hydraulic machines at2,500 PSI. Once compressed, a tile is lifted from the mold and left to dry forseveral hours, then submerged in water to cure. When cured, they are moved toracks to dry completely. “The hydraulic press has improved the strength ofCuban tile,” said Moreno. “We also seal the tiles now, which makes them moredurable.”
Coleen Ryan, who owns L’Antiquario Antique Inlaid Tile,imports handcrafted 18th- and 19th-century Europeantiles. “Durable is a relative term,” she remarked. “Cuban tiles are notgenerally as strong as clay tiles because they are made from cement and arecured rather than kiln-fired.” But interior designer Maria Theresa Concheso,with Miami Design Associates in Coral Gables, insisted, “If the tiles aremanufactured well and installed properly, they will last forever.”
James Reimer loves the Cuban tile floors in his Ft.Lauderdale home, which was built by the Oscar Meyer family as a beach retreatin 1961. He searched for years to find someone to refurbish the floors, and wasabout to install granite over them at a cost of $50,000 when he found Moreno.“This is a lost art and few people know how to do it properly,” remarked thedirector of investments at Wachovia. “Manny made 20 replacement tiles thatmatch mine exactly and the floor looks beautiful now at 10% the cost of thegranite. Not only did I save money, the floors still reflect the style of theera in which the house was built.”
“Cubantiles exude ambiance,” said Conchesco. “And they are so easy to maintain.”During a chat session on InfoTile.com, one participant shared his grandmother’srecipe for maintaining the sheen on her floors: one tablespoon of mineralspirits added to a bucket of water; mop it on. Another participant, who waxedpoetically about his floors, refinishes them every ten years. They may not befor the faint-hearted, but those who enjoy living with Cuban tiles are quick tosing their praises.