BROWNSTONE CONTEMPORARY BUILDING MATERIAL
PAGE NO : BY : MK KARTHIK RAMANAN SUBMITTED
BROWNSTONE
B
rownstone was a popular building material in the early 19th century. Today, brownstone townhouses and rowhouses are a hot commodity in real estate. Brownstone is a type of sandstone that turns brown after exposure to the elements. Mined from quarries in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Scotland, the stone became popular as a building material in the mid-1800s. Today, brownstones -- townhouses constructed with brownstone -- are a type of highly sought-after real estate, especially in New York City, where miles and miles of brownstones were built starting in the late-1860s. Brownstone refers to a variety of brown, red, and pink sandstone that was a popular building material from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. While it first appeared in buildings during the 1600s, it became widely used in the mid-1800s as architecture, art, and literature sought to adopt the textures and tones of the natural world.
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TYPES Apostle Island brownstone Hummelstown brownstone Portland brownstone New Jersey brownstone South Wales brownstone
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APOSTLE ISLAND BROWNSTONE In the 19th century, Basswood Island, Wisconsin was the site of a quarry run by the Bass Island Brownstone Company which operated from 1868 into the 1890s. The brownstone from this and other quarries in the Apostle Islands was in great demand, with brownstone from Basswood Island being used in the construction of the first Milwaukee County Courthouse in the 1860s.[3]
HUMMELSTOWN BROWNSTONE Many buildings in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania are constructed of Hummelstown brownstone Hummelstown brownstone is extremely popular along the East Coast of the United States, with numerous government buildings throughout West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Delaware being faced entirely with the stone, which comes from the Hummelstown Quarry in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, a small town outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Hummelstown Quarry is the largest provider of brownstone on the east coast. Typically, the stone was transported out of Hummelstown through the Brownstone and Middletown Railroad or taken by truck up to the Erie Canal.[citation needed]
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PORTLAND BROWNSTONE St. Paul’s Chapel features Portland Brownstone quoins[4] Portland brownstone, a.k.a. Connecticut River Brownstone, is also very popular. The stone from quarries located in Portland, Connecticut and nearby localities were used in a number of landmark buildings in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, New Haven, Hartford, Washington D.C., and Baltimore.
NEW JERSEY BROWNSTONE Old Queens (built 1809–23) at Rutgers University was constructed from ashlar brownstone quarried near New Brunswick, NJ Quarries from the Passaic Formation in northern New Jersey once supplied most of the brownstone used in New York City and New Jersey.[5]
SOUTH WALES BROWNSTONE Devonian aged sandstone is commonly used in Southern Wales.
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QUALITY Brownstone was deemed “not really much good as a building material” by Vincent Scully, professor emeritus of the history of art at Yale University. [11] Brownstone was popular because it is unusually easy to carve and quarry, but these qualities also made houses clad in it susceptible to weathering and damage over time.
USE IN TOMBSTONE MAKING Example of Portland Brownstone used on colonial tombstones and tabletop markers in Hartford Connecticut Brownstone was prized by tombstone carvers in southern New England, and Mid Atlantic region during the Colonial era. Table-type memorials in particular were often carved out of brownstone as well as regular headstones. Especially valued for being easy to carve, those same characteristics often resulted in stones being less durable and prone to heavy erosion and wear over time, especially when compared to slate or schist graves of the same time period. Brownstone began losing popularity among carvers during the first few decades of the 1800’s due to the rising popularity of marble though it continued to be used for obelisks and other grave monuments until much later. Brownstone used for headstones was usually quarried from the Connecticut River Valley and New Jersey, and many grave carvers especially in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey carved from it.
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ARE BROWNSTONES EXPENSIVE? Unabashedly, yes. Most brownstone quarries have long been spent, which means brownstone is difficult to find today. In other words, they aren’t making any more brownstones. That, along with the historic landmark status of many brownstones, makes these homes a hot commodity. It would be hard to find a brownstone for less than $1.5 million in nearly any New York neighborhood, and many of them would sell for several times that. Because brownstones are so popular (and valuable), many homes are called brownstones when they’re actually just regular townhouses
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BROWNSTONE MAINTENANCE If you own a brownstone building, it’s essential to perform regular maintenance to help slow the rate of decay. Here are a few tips for brownstone owners that are recommended in The Brownstone Guide, a brownstone primer funded by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts:
Keep the gutters clear. Clear the gutters and leaders at least twice a year so that water drains properly. Maintain the roof. Periodically inspect for roof damage and repair leaks right away. Get rid of vegetation. Ivy might look pretty, but it can trap moisture and prevent the walls from ever drying out. Fill open joints. Caulk any open joints to keep water from getting into windows, doors, and horizontal structures like window lintels. The Brownstone Guide recommends that you use high-quality polysulfide, butyl rubber, or acrylic latex caulk. Maintain flashing. Inspect metal flashings, which protect ledges, lintels, ornamentation, and other decorative features that could otherwise absorb water. The Brownstone Guide recommends using noncorrosive, nonstaining sheet metal such as lead or lead-coated copper. Repoint as needed. A qualified mason can repoint any loose, broken, or missing mortar joints. The Brownstone Guide notes that the repointing mortar must be softer and more porous than your home’s brownstone. Otherwise, any mortar that’s too hard could accelerate the brownstone’s deterioration. Clean carefully. Clean only to protect the brownstone from pollutants and the excess buildup of dirt. Keep in mind that if cleaning isn’t done correctly, it can lead to more damage than years of natural weathering would cause. Be sure to find a qualified mason and ask to see a sample of their work.
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USE IN URBAN PRIVATE RESIDENCES There are many brownstones throughout numerous New York City neighborhoods, especially in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Park Slope, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Gowanus, Windsor Terrace, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Brooklyn Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant, and Sunset Park. Smaller concentrations exist in parts of Bay Ridge, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
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