Floors With Interesting Stories to Tell

For some, a drive through the countryside means looking at the flora and fauna. For Charlie Smallbone, it means looking for stone flooring. Not just any old floors, either. They have to be at least 200 years old.

That’s because he runs Paris Ceramics, a company that sells antique stone flooring (as well as new tiles) for modern floors. For more than a decade, Smallbone, who lives in London, has scoured the countryside in France, Spain, Israel and India in search of original stone flooring in old buildings--from farms to monasteries--that either have been dismantled or are poised for renovation.

Patinized stones and tiles reveal unique colors--the cream and pink of a French terra cotta tile, some of which dates back to the 17th century; the red and green of Chinese limestone from the foundation of a defunct Buddhist temple; and the soft white of a Spanish marble from a 500-year-old Catholic monastery in Andalusia that was under renovation.

The company removes old floors stone by stone. Some can be as big as 3 by 2 feet in diameter and 6 inches thick--the thick ones are eventually sliced down to 1 inch. The stones are trucked from their original site to a yard where they are sorted, packed into containers and transported via ship. Paris Ceramics transports about 50 containers a year, each of which holds 3,000-4,000 square feet of stone, which translates to about 22 tons. The process can take up to eight months.

After all that, the stonework may be displayed in one of seven showrooms in the United States (the company also has stores in Europe), including one at 8373 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. Prices range from $15 to $25 per square foot for terra cotta and $30 to $65 per square foot for stone. Smallbone, 48, says customers are told the history of the pieces. “It is wonderful when you know the stone you have comes from a chateau or a monastery. It makes it all that more special.”

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Candace A. Wedlan is at candace.wedlan@latimes.com.