The Touch of Time on Building Materials 
Neighboring pieces in the same belt course 
will darken very unequally and darken to 
a dirty gray. Such terra cotta has been too 
frequently used in our business districts, and 
not yet sufficiently in the suburbs and in the 
country. 
Incidentally it may be added that orna¬ 
mental details, whether in red brick or terra 
cotta are satisfactorily permanent. The writer 
has been greatly surprised by the durability 
of the carved brick on Sever Hall, Cam¬ 
bridge, set in place twenty-three years ago. 
I'he carving of brick is so unusual to-day as 
to be almost never attempted. 
I he use of metals in external architecture 
demands a few words. Iron can never be 
left unprotected, and will therefore be subject 
to the same conditions as paint or bronzing. 
Pure gold leaf darkens with time but does 
not discolor. I'he curious coppery tinge 
that appeared on the dome of the Massa¬ 
chusetts State House after a number ot years 
was probably due to the composition ot the- 
alloy affected by salt in the east winds, as 
the discoloration was mostly on the east 
side of the dome. Aluminum bronzing, 
exposed to the weather, loses its first silvery 
appearance, and soon changes to a pearly 
gray. Thus fir, it does not seem to have 
anything like the durability of gold. Gal¬ 
vanized iron has a coating of zinc which 
turns in the same way as aluminum only 
darker and has, generally speaking, but very 
few years of life. Lead, on the contrary,' is 
very durable, and its weathered gray color is 
distinctly agreeable for vases, statuary, and 
decorative details generally. It is still quite 
as applicable as it was in France during the 
eighteenth century. I he best of architectural 
metals, however, is copper. Give it room 
for contraction and expansion, and copper, 
whether darkening naturally or darkened by 
oil or treated with the ingredients that give 
it the “antique” finish, loses nothing what¬ 
ever in the course of time. Natural copper 
steadily improves and looks better in the 
end than the artificially finished. The 
weathering of bronze is like that of copper. 
Brass is unchanging if lacquered or fre¬ 
quently polished. 
Within certain narrow limits the use of 
unprotected wood in architectural work is of 
artistic advantage. A log cabin in the woods 
is one of the most picturesque of structures ; 
even a camp, with battened walls or bare 
siding, looks well after the new lumber has 
lost its first freshness. I he posts of such a 
camp may be of birch trunks and will keep 
their bark in the open air until the post 
itself is decayed. Cedar posts, too, last well, 
but spruce has a tendency to shed its bark. 
Among buildings of a less primitive kind, 
two woods constantly used stand exposure 
for a few years and look well. Hard pine, 
though not advisable for exposed framework 
unless always protected, is used for steps 
and platforms, and darkens without beauty, 
but cedar shingles on walls and roof may 
acquire a silvery gray tone that no stain can 
imitate and no length of time can destroy. 
It should be said, however, that this beautiful 
color of unprotected cedar is taken on much 
more rapidly at the seashore and especially 
on the easterly exposure of a building. 
Further inland the shingles may not acquire 
their silvery grayness until they are too de¬ 
crepit tor further use. 
Last ot all, we will dismiss, in a few words, 
the whole subject of paints and stains. We 
do not know of a single stain that changes 
color evenly, but we have seen excellent 
mottled effects obtained by the use ot two or 
th ree shades of one color in shingle stains, 
giving place with time to the natural color 
that so far surpasses them. We have also 
known stained oak to bleach with the 
storms of one winter. Dark stains, after a 
few years, show the natural color of the 
wood in spots, giving the building an untidy, 
worn-out look. 
Paint is more satisfactory in this respect, 
at least: that it turns more evenly than stain. 
But if there is one experience in building 
more trying than another, it is to find the 
effect of a design largely dependent upon 
paints that do not retain their color. Broadly 
speaking, no fresh paint looks well. Most 
colors look better after a year; few or none 
endure for more than five years. Among 
the usual colors, drab, bronze green, red and 
white suffer the least change. I’he cool 
grays are variable and the yellows most 
variable of all. No building designed for the 
ordinary span of human life should depend 
for its appearance upon anything but the 
natural color of its materials. 
88 
