A century ago, terra-cotta tiles were used to adorn the façades of the most prestigious buildings in Minneapolis. The material, lighter and often less expensive than stone, could be easily molded into decorative ornaments. In and around downtown, many terra cotta façades remain intact even today.
But restoring or replacing terra cotta can be difficult. When LHB went looking for manufacturers who could produce new tiles for the façade of Bimosedaa, a supportive housing development in downtown Minneapolis involving the conversion of the old Rockler Fur Company building, we found few options.
Less than a handful of U.S. companies still produced terra cotta, and replicating the tiles would take more time and money than anticipated.
What to do? Our design team dug deep and found a solution in glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC). A cement-based composite reinforced with alkali-resistant glass fibers, GFRC can be cast in thin sections to form architectural panels, cladding, or decorative elements. It can also be glazed to achieve an appearance that’s almost indistinguishable from old terra cotta tiles.
To meet historic preservation guidelines, the terra cotta on the Rockler’s facade had to be salvaged whenever possible, but only a fraction of the material proved reusable. To create replacement GFRC panels, all tiles were carefully removed, packaged, and transported to the GFRC manufacturing plant, where molds were made to preserve the original design.
One benefit of GFRC is that numerous terra cotta pieces can be recreated as a single piece of GFRC, with the original mortar joints mimicked or struck to match the original installation. For Bimosedaa, this meant the entire facade of more than 100 tiles could be replicated in roughly 30 GFRC panels–an efficiency that reduced labor costs, because fewer individual pieces had to be installed. Only the weight of the panels, which still had to be set by masons, limited the size of the GFRC panels.
Architectural purists often take issue with fake materials on historically designated projects—with good reason: Historic building standards help maintain the integrity of historic structures across the country.
To ensure that our solution was accepted, LHB’s project team communicated with the Minneapolis Preservation Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the National Park Service to confirm that GFRC was a suitable replacement for terra cotta. This proactive approach kept the project on schedule and ensured that our client, Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, qualified for historic tax credits that were essential for the completion of the project. ∎
Bimosedaa was recently recognized with a 2026 Minneapolis Preservation Award.
Learn more about LHB’s historic preservation and housing work.
