Ernest A. Batchelder

• Name — Ernest A. Batchelder • Born — January 22, 1875 • Birthplace — Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S. • Died — August 6, 1957 (aged 82) • Place of death — Pasadena, California, U.S. • Education — Massachusetts Normal Art School • Known for — tile • Movement — Arts and crafts

Ernest Allan Batchelder was born on January 22, 1875, in Nashua, New Hampshire. In 1894, he began attending classes at Massachusetts Normal Art School, and in 1899, he received his Public School Class diploma. Batchelder moved to Pasadena, California to teach in the early 1900s, and became director of the art department at Throop Polytechnic Institute, the predecessor of the California Institute of Technology.

In 1909 Batchelder built a kiln behind his house and began creating hand-crafted art tiles. The tiles were hugely popular, and by the 1920s, they could be found in homes and buildings across the United States. Due to the success of Batchelder's tiles his company moved twice, expanding each time. • Illustration — Dutch Chocolate Shop in the 1910s One of Batchelder's earliest and most notable commissions was a Dutch-themed Chocolate Shop, in which the walls were crowned with tiles of Dutch maidens, wooden clogs, and windmills. The entire work has been called "one of the most beautiful and extravagant tile interiors in Los Angeles or anywhere." One of Batchelder's last and largest projects was Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Batchelder tiles were used on the walls, floors, and stair risers of the building's fountain room, complete with central pool and a mezzanine level. Batchelder's company, which employed 150 men at its peak, went out of business in 1932. Batchelder, however, continued making pottery until the early 1950s.

• Batchelder House (1910), Pasadena • Dutch Chocolate Shop (1913), Los Angeles • Fine Arts Building (1927), Los Angeles • Hollywood Art Center School fountain, Los Angeles • Social Hall, Hollywood YMCA, Los Angeles • numerous homes in the Pasadena area, many of which were lost in the Eaton Fire in 2025

• Hotel Hershey, (1933), Hershey, Pennsylvania • Our Lady of Victory Chapel, St. Paul, Minnesota • numerous homes, shops, restaurants, swimming pools, lobbies, and hotels throughout the United States