Tiled Floor Cloth Company

• Advertisment for The Scarborough Patent Tiled Floor Cloth Company Ltd
• Melrose Street, Scarborough, England
• Circa 1890s
• 121 x 152mm (4¾ x 6in)

The High Italian Renaissance influence is conveyed in this fanciful illustration showing a fine view over the sea towards the seaside resort of Scarborough, where prominent on St Nicholas cliff is one of the town's most stunning Victorian buildings, The Grand Hotel, built in 1863.

In 1889 Henry Michael Steinthal, Manchester cotton merchant and managing director of The Scarborough Patent Tiled Floor Cloth Company Ltd, "a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Scarborough, in the county of York, England", filed an application with the United States Patent Office relating to the invention of certain new and useful improvements in machines for the manufacture of floor-cloths.

This innovative product, the object of which is to mass-produce a floor-cloth in which the pattern will not become obliterated by use except in the entire wearing out of the material, was intended as an economical and durable substitue for ornamental tile pavements.