Where stone is cheap and not beautiful in itself, a stucco covering 
for it will result in an effective and durable house. Duhring, 
Okie & Ziegler, architects 
One way of avoiding monotony of a stucco house is to use this 
material in combination with stone or half-timber. Duhring, Okie 
& Ziegler, architects 
New-Old Possibilities in Stucco Houses 
METHODS OF SECURING INTERESTING TEXTURES IN THE SURFACES OF STUCCO WALLS— 
LESSONS FROM THE PAST IN ITALY AND ENGLAND—PARGE WORK AND SGRAFFITO 
by Harold Donaldson Eberlein 
Illustrations by L. Ht Dreyer and others, and from “The Art of the Plasterer” 
[Two houses that are alike in every respect but the stucco walls, may be almost as dissimilar in appearance as if one were of stone and the other of 
wood. The best use of wall materials is a subject of as great importance as the architectural style that is to be followed, yet the layman, as a rule , 
seems not to appreciate this fact; to him a stucco house is merely a stucco house—until he realises that his finished home falls far short of his ideal. 
This article is the fourth of a short series, in which the aim is to make clear the possibilities in securing distinctive character through an intelligent use 
of the various building materials. The author wishes to give credit to Mr. H. L. Duhring, architect, for many helpful suggestions. — Editor.] 
W E live in a cement age — so we are told repeatedly, and a 
casual glance in almost any direction confirms it. Cement 
work of some sort is everywhere in evidence. Not so very long 
ago ardent cement enthusiasts were confidently predicting that 
concrete would soon utterly supplant 
all other building materials, and that 
brick, stone and wood would scarcely 
be heard of for structural purposes. 
Notwithstanding the steadily increas¬ 
ing use of cement, the supplanting 
has not yet come to pass, nor is it ever 
likely to, for all the wonted building 
stuffs have their appropriate uses and 
their legitimate places from which 
they will not be ousted. It were well, 
however, to consider the special fit¬ 
ness of cement and concrete for cer¬ 
tain ends, and the prospective house¬ 
builder, if he is wise, will thought¬ 
fully ask himself, “Shall I use cement 
in the construction of my house, in 
the form of either concrete or 
stucco?” His answer will be reached 
after duly weighing the pros and 
cons, some of them, perhaps, affect¬ 
ing only his own particular case, but 
others of a more general nature. 
Among the manifest advantages of 
concrete construction are to be reck¬ 
oned immunity from fire, durability, 
exemption from frequent repair ex¬ 
penses, such as painting for a frame 
house or pointing for masonry, com¬ 
parative evenness of indoor tempera¬ 
ture because of the non-conducting properties of concrete and 
sundry other desiderata. Against these may be measured some 
limitations, though several of them are entirely surmountable. 
We must understand clearly what we mean by the terms con¬ 
crete, stucco and plaster. Concrete 
is a carefully proportioned mixture 
of cement, sand and gravel, or, in 
some cases, small stones, combined 
with a necessary quantity of water. 
This mixture after being well worked 
is poured into moulds or forms to 
harden and, when set, makes a wall 
of one solid piece. When the mix¬ 
ture is poured around metal rods or 
meshing, to give additional tough¬ 
ness, it is known as reinforced con¬ 
crete. A concrete house is under¬ 
stood to be one whose walls through¬ 
out their thickness consist of concrete 
either reinforced or plain. In such 
houses it is usual to make the interior 
construction either wholly or in large 
measure of concrete, thereby render¬ 
ing them fireproof. The terms stucco 
and plaster are in a measure inter¬ 
changeable, each being a coating ap¬ 
plied to some other substance as a 
backing, though it is usual to regard 
plaster as composed of sand, lime and 
hair, while stucco, since the advent of 
Portland cement, has been generally 
supposed to contain some measure of 
that ingredient. The old stuccoes 
were of various composition, but we 
An example of moulded and colored cement panels 
set in a wall of pebble-dash that has been given a 
wash of thin cement. Oswald C. Hering, architect 
(443) 
