The American Architect
The ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL, CXXIV WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1923 NUMBER 2424
Fig. 1. Elaborately carved lintel
This lintel is 14 feet long by 4 feet in height, cut from a single piece of limestone
LIMESTONE in BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
INTRODUCTION
THE architect, the engineer and the architectural draftsman have found it necessary, and
tinEe goes oil increasingly so, for them to know more about the materials of construction. The acquiring of a fairly comprehensive knowl
edge of the physical properties of building materials, their methods of production or manufacture and limitations as to use, is receiving more attention on the part of the profession than was formerly the case. This fact is attested by the architect’s attitude today, as compared with the quite evident intentional neglect given to the consideration of materials by many of the earlier writers on architectural subjects.
The belief that building stone, and especially limestone, constitutes a subject of timely interest to the architectural profession seems patent, both on account of the extent to which this material is being employed by architects, and because of the apparent lack of anything except dry technical reports on American building stones.
Furthermore, with the country’s increased wealth there is a natural broadening of education and a more highly developed culture which, along with the now general interest in Fine Arts, also manifests itself in the desire for a higher type of building construction, greater structural permanence and a better standard of excellence in point of design.
This quite naturally affects the choice of building materials. The medium must be worthy of the design, as it affects the execution of detail to an extent that often precludes a determination of the features of the design, if not the type of design itself, until after the decision as to material has been made.
It is not the purpose of this article to devote any space to axioms of this sort which are common knowledge among architects. The point is mentioned here only in order to call attention to another related fact, which is, that in the method of detailing a particular design, there often exists an opportunity to affect the cost of
The first of a series of articles giving a general outline of the Use of Limestone in Building Construction together with proper methods of structural detailing By............H. S. BRIGHTLY
(Copyright, 1923, The Architectural & Building Press, Inc.)
The ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL, CXXIV WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1923 NUMBER 2424
Fig. 1. Elaborately carved lintel
This lintel is 14 feet long by 4 feet in height, cut from a single piece of limestone
LIMESTONE in BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
INTRODUCTION
THE architect, the engineer and the architectural draftsman have found it necessary, and
tinEe goes oil increasingly so, for them to know more about the materials of construction. The acquiring of a fairly comprehensive knowl
edge of the physical properties of building materials, their methods of production or manufacture and limitations as to use, is receiving more attention on the part of the profession than was formerly the case. This fact is attested by the architect’s attitude today, as compared with the quite evident intentional neglect given to the consideration of materials by many of the earlier writers on architectural subjects.
The belief that building stone, and especially limestone, constitutes a subject of timely interest to the architectural profession seems patent, both on account of the extent to which this material is being employed by architects, and because of the apparent lack of anything except dry technical reports on American building stones.
Furthermore, with the country’s increased wealth there is a natural broadening of education and a more highly developed culture which, along with the now general interest in Fine Arts, also manifests itself in the desire for a higher type of building construction, greater structural permanence and a better standard of excellence in point of design.
This quite naturally affects the choice of building materials. The medium must be worthy of the design, as it affects the execution of detail to an extent that often precludes a determination of the features of the design, if not the type of design itself, until after the decision as to material has been made.
It is not the purpose of this article to devote any space to axioms of this sort which are common knowledge among architects. The point is mentioned here only in order to call attention to another related fact, which is, that in the method of detailing a particular design, there often exists an opportunity to affect the cost of
The first of a series of articles giving a general outline of the Use of Limestone in Building Construction together with proper methods of structural detailing By............H. S. BRIGHTLY
(Copyright, 1923, The Architectural & Building Press, Inc.)