HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, i 9 i i 
38 
Random rubble of stone that has been 
left with its face as quarried. Donald 
C. Hering, architect 
Quarry-faced course rubble, in which type an 
approximately horizontal line is formed with 
each course 
A house remodeled from an old stone 
barn. The quoins, lintels and arches 
give an interesting variety to the wall 
really good proportions and details spoiled by false-principled 
and grotesque masonwork. 
How is it that such offensive stonework can he perpetrated in 
this day of able architects and when popular good taste is admit¬ 
tedly increasing? The truth is that many people on looking at an 
object get a quick general impression that the appearance is either 
pleasing or unpleasing. They either like or dislike it, but, in nine 
cases out of ten, they cannot tell exactly why. They fail to an¬ 
alyze their impressions and determine what details create the 
effect they like or dislike, and as they cannot point out the flaws, 
naturally, they cannot insist on a remedy. Another trouble is 
that in the architect's drawings the exact appearance of the ma¬ 
sonry is too often not adequately shown, and the specifications 
to the builder sometimes miss being specific. Nothing can be 
more fatal to the successful execution of stonework than to trust 
to the discretion or taste of the builder or stonemasons. They 
will bear close and constant watching. Then, too, a further cause 
of failure is too easy compliance with the behests of the contrac¬ 
tor or stone dealer, who will probably advance a dozen specious 
reasons, dictated of course by his own personal interest or desire 
to escape inconvenience, why you should not use the particular 
kind of stone you 
wish, but the kind 
he wills. He will 
be insistent, but 
don’t be brow¬ 
beaten by him. In 
justice to the 
stonedealer, how¬ 
ever, be it said 
that this insist¬ 
ence is sometimes 
due to his desire 
to do a “good 
job'’ by supplying 
what he consid¬ 
ers the best qual¬ 
ity of stone. This 
has a cold, hard 
color and comes 
from deeper down 
in the quarry than 
the mellower colored stone, stained by oxidation where the sur¬ 
face water has seeped through some fault or line of cleavage in 
the rock, and which the architect prefers for esthetic reasons. 
In housebuilding, as in everything else, it is the little things 
that count, and this paper is written to direct attention to one im¬ 
portant detail of the house, the texture or appearance of the wall 
face, a detail very significant but often neglected — at least, so far 
as the owner is concerned. The two factors in masonry are, of 
course, stones and mortar, but the treatment of both is suscep¬ 
tible of the widest variations. Carefully avoiding as many tech¬ 
nicalities as we may, let us consider the subject from the layman's 
point of view. Any man, whether he has technical knowledge or 
not. if he uses his eyes, can see what is being done and can insist 
on definite plans being carried out. 
Colonial masonry has been selected for special attention be¬ 
cause we have so many examples of really first-rate work, and so 
many good modern reproductions, to make co;nparisons with, 
and also because it embodies certain principles we cannot afford 
to neglect. Moreover, the same general principles apply, no mat¬ 
ter what the style of architecture. Another reason, still, for 
picking out the Colonial style for illustration, is that in Colonial 
and immediately 
post-C o 1 o n i a 1 
times people of 
cultivation and 
taste controlled 
the erection of 
buildings. Later, 
about eighty - five 
years ago, came a 
decadence of taste 
that lasted with 
few abatements 
till its ultimate 
fruition in the vin¬ 
tage of the "Cen¬ 
tennial style"— a 
c a 1 a m i t y f spin 
which we have 
not yet entirely 
recovered. For 
those who have 
Regular course ashlar—stones 
squared up and laid with 
regular horizontal joints 
‘Opus reticulatum” — a 
method fit only for the 
paving of streets 
Squared pitched-face stone laid 
as broken—course ashlar 
The edges only are straight 
