Manufacturer: Maddock Pottery Co. and Shenango China
User/Pattern Name: The Rice Hotel
Date of Maddock plate: 1918 – 1924
Date of Shenango plate: 1920s-early 1950s
Date of cup & saucer: 1953

Maddock Pottery

Unknown Manufacturer

Shenango China

{"arrow":"false","pagination":"true","speed":"1000","autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"2000","loop":"true","slide_to_show_3d":"2","slide_show_ipad_3d":"2","slide_show_tablet_3d":"1","slide_show_mobile_3d":"1","slide_to_scroll_3d":"1","auto_stop":"false","centermode_3d":"true","space_between_3d":"0","depth":20,"modifier":20,"img_rotate":0,"img_stretch":0}

{"animation_fancy":"zoom-in-out","transition_fancy":"fade","fancy_box_loop":"true"}

Notes: The hotel was built on the site of the old Capitol of the Republic of Texas, which housed the Texas Congress from April 1837 until September 1839. The original building was razed in 1881 by Colonel A. Groesbeck, who subsequently erected an elaborate five-story Capitol Hotel.

William Marsh Rice, the founder of Rice University, purchased the building in 1883, added a five-story annex and renamed it the Rice Hotel. Rice University later sold the building in 1911 to Jesse Jones, who then demolished the building and built a 17-story structure on the site. The new building opened on May 17, 1913, costing $2.5 million. The Rice Hotel Cafeteria opened on the site in 1922 as the first air-conditioned public room in Houston.

The Rice Hotel remained a Houston landmark until 1975, when the building's owners decided to close the hotel. After a brief reopening in 1976, the hotel was closed by court order on August 23, 1977 and was sold at foreclosure auction in 1977.

It was sold again circa 1995, completely renovated and reopened on October 29, 1998 with 312 bedroom rental units.

The manufacturer is not known for the platter, in blue. It was supplied by Albert Pick and Company, which was a known supplier of the Maddock Pottery Company, hence its placement with its known cousin. Based on the Pick backstamp, it would appear that its date of manufacture spanned 1923 – 1926. Lamberton China body.

The Shenango plate has a coin gold topmark with blue band flanked by thinner coin gold bands on the border.

Contributors:
Larry Paul
Steven Koska