July, 19 1 7 
11 
THE REASONS FOR SPECIFYING STUCCO 
What One Architect Learned from Twenty Years’ Special Study— 
The Results of Practical Experimentation in Building Materials 
WILLIAM HART BOUGHTON 
T LIE prospective homebuilder of today 
is confronted with the very perplexing 
problem of cost of materials and cost of 
construction, which like other “costs” these 
days have taken a tendency skyward. All 
circumstances considered, when a client 
asks me to tell him how he can build a small 
house within a reasonable expenditure, I 
advise a stucco house. 
Permanent and Plastic 
There are many well-founded reasons for 
this prescription, the chief ones being that 
I believe the stucco house combines in a 
high degree four very important qualities. 
Briefly stated, they are permanency, beauty, 
adaptability to climatic conditions and, last 
but by no means least, undoubted advan¬ 
tages in first cost and cost of upkeep. 
Taking up these points one by one, I 
have found in the first 
place that stucco, if prop¬ 
erly applied on a correct 
base, is one of the most per¬ 
manent of all forms of con¬ 
struction. It does not wear 
or rot away or deteriorate; 
in fact, it gets better each 
year, just as cement gets 
stronger as it ages. If you 
can be sure of your base 
and mixture and applica¬ 
tion, its life is practically 
unlimited, and with the 
passing of time it grows 
more mellow and beautiful. 
I have in mind the Vander- 
beek house at Hackensack, 
New Jersey, in perfect con¬ 
dition today though it was 
built about 1717; and some 
very old examples of stucco 
houses which I examined 
while in Europe, all in ex¬ 
cellent repair, without indi¬ 
cations of cracking or de¬ 
terioration of any kind. 
In the matter of beauti¬ 
ful effect, there is absolute¬ 
ly no material that can be 
used in house work more 
pleasingly than stucco, on account of its 
adaptability to a plastic design and its beauty 
of texture. A hard, harsh surface can never 
approach stucco in softness of tone, espe¬ 
cially now that a dash finish is being given 
to the stucco by the use of a crushed aggre¬ 
gate of vari-colored stones and granites 
which give a permanent color without re¬ 
course to mineral pigments for results. 
Picture the wall surface of a well-designed 
house, covered here and there with white 
trellis work on which are growing vines 
with green leaves and patches of red flowers 
against a cement background, and I think 
you will agree with me that “here we meet 
beauty.” 
Climatic Adaptability 
In adaptability to climatic conditions, 
stucco is unsurpassed. Proof of this is 
found in our tropical climates where a cool 
house is demanded, as well as in the bleak 
climate of the north where nothing will do 
but a warm and damp-proof house. While 
stucco provides a very cool house in sum¬ 
mer, it makes a correspondingly warm house 
in the winter months. It can be made per¬ 
fectly damp-proof, and is a big factor in the 
economy of fuel. I know of no other method 
of construction which for anywhere near the 
cost of construction will give equal results. 
Costs of Stucco 
The question of cost—first cost and up¬ 
keep—is of vital importance to anyone who 
is going to build, and more especially to the 
builder of a moderate-priced house. To 
show the actual first cost I have compiled 
some comparative tables for different forms 
of construction. The figures for these 
tables were derived by 
averaging prices on all ma¬ 
terials and labor in twenty 
cities from Boston to 
Kansas City. They repre¬ 
sent the expenditure for 
1000 sq. ft. of wall surface 
in each case. 
(1) Clapboards on 
sheathing. 
1200 ft. B.M., %" 
matched sheathing 
@ $34.75 per M . .$41.70 
Labor to apply same. 10.75 
1000 sq. ft. sheathing 
paper . 2.73 
Labor to apply same 1.32 
1300 ft. B.M., clap¬ 
boards @ $39.04 
per M. 50.75 
Labor to apply same, 
mitered corners... 15.00 
111 yds., 3 coat paint¬ 
ing @ 36c per yd. 39.96 
Stucco can be successfully combined with so many other eleynents that 
its uses are almost legion. Stone and stucco, tile and stucco or half 
timber and stucco, and as here, brick and stucco, are among the combina¬ 
tions. Residence of B. Winthrop, Esq., at Syosset, L. I. Delano it 
Aldrich, architects 
(2) 
sheathing. 
$162.21 
1200 ft. B.M., 7/s" 
matched sheathing 
@ $34.75 per M. .$41.70 
