ON THE USE OF STONE IN CITIES 323 



Structure is a fine specimen of the beauty, durability and 

 general excellence of Hudson river blue-stone in walls, for 

 which it has not been employed as largely as other stone, 

 on account of its greater value for flagging. The Second 

 Reformed church, built in 1850, is of limestone from local 

 quarries. It is disfigured by the unequal weathering and 

 consequent variation in color of the calcareous and argilla- 

 ceous or clayey portions of the limestone. This weathering 

 has not, however, as yet, impaired the strength or affected 

 seriously the enduring quality of the stone. The Ulster 

 County court house, built in 1 818, is of blue limestone and 

 the good condition of the walls shows the durability of the 

 stone. The number of old stone houses in Kingston is a 

 unique fact, in our American towns. General George H. 

 Sharpe, in a lecture on the ''Old Houses of Kingston," 

 refers to eighty-five stone buildings ; according to a recent 

 revision of the list,'^^there are now fifty-eight standing and 

 occupied ; the best known, and probably the oldest, is the 

 ''Senate House," built by Wessels Ten Brock, in 1676. 

 The cherty limestone in it shows little signs of weathering, 

 excepting in the deepening of the furrows in the rock-face 

 blocks. The irregular shaped surfaces of rubble-work do 

 not show alteration and wear, as in the case of dressed faces. 

 The variety of stone found in its walls, as in some of the 

 other old houses indicates that "field stone" was used in 

 these older constructions. With few exceptions the walls 

 in these old buildings are undresssed stone and bricks, laid 

 on their natural beds, and nearly all of it is limestone. Its 

 durability is attested by its uniformity of condition. In the 

 older walls the weathering has resulted in a roughening of 

 some of the surface and a fading of color from blue to pale 

 gray. Onondaga limestone, which is quarried in the city, 

 furnishes material for heavy masonry, foundations and re- 

 taining walls. 



'^' Letter of Cornelius Van Gaasbeck, Kingston, January 23, i8go. 



