102 
House & Garden 
Q/e would 
part withFrigidaire 
jbr manij times its cost 
"The Frigidaire installed in my home is eminently 
satisfactory. It functions perfectly, we are greatly 
pleased and consider it the best modern improvement 
in our home. It seems to be perfect in its automatic 
operation. We would not part with Frigidaire for 
many times the amount it costs if we knew we could 
not get another one." 
A. P. SHALLEY 
270 /' Shriver Avenue 
Indianapolis, Ind. 
This is typical of the experience of thousands of home 
owners with Frigidaire. In these homes Frigidaire is 
providing a better, more healthful method of refrigera' 
tion than it is possible to ever obtain with melting 
ice. Its constantly cold, dry atmosphere keeps food 
longer and in a perfect state of preservation, and 
retains the original flavor and tastiness. It operates 
from your home electric current at an average cost 
no greater than you would pay for ice. 
There is a style and size of Frigidaire to meet your 
requirements, purchasable for a moderate price on 
very easy terms. Write for booklet HG 8 
DELCO-LIGHT COMPANY 
Subsidiary of Qeneral Motors Corporation 
Dayton, Ohio 
Two detail photographs of brushed plaster wall 
finishes which combine color and texture in a 
wide variety of effects 
WALL TEXTURES inside the HOUSE 
{Continued from page 100) 
a plasterer’s job, but which is applied 
with a brush. It is in powder form, 
and needs only to be mixed with warm 
water and applied to practically any 
surface, whether old or new. Several 
of the varied effects of this wall treat¬ 
ment are shown in the detail illustra¬ 
tions. The complete application of this 
finish includes the fixing of the first 
coat with a sizing compound, which 
also comes in powder form, and is dis¬ 
solved in boiling water, and the final 
finishing with a ready prepared glaz¬ 
ing medium, transparent and drying 
with a soft sheen. 
In the application of this finish, 
which consists of both materials and 
method, a great variety of effects is 
obtainable, from simple one-coat stip¬ 
pled washes to highly elaborate effects 
of blended color. It has been especially 
developed for the reproduction of the 
antique effects of Spanish and Italian 
plaster work, as well as for walls imi¬ 
tating travertine and other similar 
stones. It has been found from ex¬ 
periments over a period of ten years 
that this finish does not crack or chip, 
and that when the glazing coat is ap¬ 
plied, it may be washed without det¬ 
rimental effects. 
Before the development of this meth¬ 
od of creating textured walls it was 
necessary to depend upon a degree of 
artisanship in the plasterer seldom en¬ 
countered. Italian plasterers are usu¬ 
ally endowed with a good deal of imag- 
inatioiy and skill, and have produced 
excellently artistic plaster finishes, but 
it has never been possible to be sure 
of securing this kind of labor eco¬ 
nomically or in any given locality. 
For the wall treatment of lobbies and 
foyers, as well as for certain other 
types of interiors, artifice has supplied 
excellent imitations of such stones as 
travertine and Caen stone. These have 
been developed in cement, and very 
closely realize the best historic tra¬ 
ditions. Actual travertine and Caen 
stone are difficult and expensive to pro¬ 
cure, and architectural piictice in this 
country readily sanctions the use of 
good imitations. The wall in Caen 
stone effect reproduces the fine texture 
and soft gray tone of the French stone, 
and it is marked off in stone courses. 
The imitation travertine is handled in 
the same way, and reproduces a stone 
of porous appearance and soft, neutral 
color. 
About two years ago architecture was 
called upon to make a place for an 
entirely new material, and one with a 
remarkable variety of uses and range 
of color, added to its natural texture. 
This material is made of kiln dried and 
chemically prepared wood fibre and fine 
cork, mixed with a fire and weather¬ 
proof binder, and pressed into its 
tough, compact consistency under a 
hydraulic pressure of 2,500 pounds to 
the square inch. It is resistant to heat 
and flame, as well as to moisture, and 
because of its consistency does not 
shrink or warp. Its appearance is that 
of an open textured stone, but it can 
be swayed, drilled, planed, nailed or 
screwed, like wood. 
It can be seen at once that this 
material has a future. It has emerged 
from the experimental stage, and has 
stood a variety of tests both indoors 
and out over a period of eight years. 
For interior walls this material is 
made in sheets a half inch, or five 
eighths of an inch thick, and being a 
finish material requires no surfacing 
treatment after it has been applied to 
the wall. Its best use is for interiors 
of simple lines and plain surfaces, with¬ 
out architectural embellishment, and 
its effect is that of antique travertine. 
The color, in this case, is a mottled 
ivory, one of the two standard or 
“stock” colors. The other is black, 
which may be used effectively in some 
instances, while such colorings as blue, 
green or brick red are specially added in 
the mixture. The material is shipped 
in slabs seventeen and a half by forty- 
seven and a half inches area, and is 
cut to fit where it is used. Its best 
effects are those in which it is cut in 
relatively small units and jointed. It 
is used not only for walls, but for 
floors as well, and in this connection 
can be laid over old floors. The floor¬ 
ing slabs are made with a closer tex¬ 
ture than those for use in walls, and 
in thicknesses of an inch and a quarter 
are used for the construction of stairs. 
Certainly the vocabulary of architec¬ 
ture has been vastly enriched by these 
new methods and materials, and their 
proper and intelligent use is only a mat¬ 
ter of architectural sanity and good 
judgment. 
The necessity of specially trained or 
esthetically gifted artisanship no longer 
exists. Walls of interesting and pic¬ 
turesque texture can be achieved any¬ 
where, and at a reasonable cost, and it 
only remains for architects, decorators 
and owners to observe a degree of mod¬ 
eration and to be governed by a sense 
of fitness, if we are to escape the mis¬ 
fortune of having texture walls be¬ 
come a fad, or being used in interiors 
to which they are unsuitable. 
There are an ample number of in¬ 
teriors, both stylistic and otherwise, to 
give plenty of scope to all who ad¬ 
mire rough and interesting textures. 
