Reprinted with permission from PICCO Group.

Contrary to common belief, it’s quite easy to build with stone. The use of natural stone on buildings and paving can be traced back to the beginning of civilization.

There are countless buildings, monuments, and structures dating back thousands of years that have stood the test of time and left generations in awe—like the great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Mayan Temples in Mexico, the Parthenon in Greece, and the Coliseum in Rome. Many of these structures were built with no mortar; the stones were simply cut, tightly fitted together and laid atop one another—a method of stone installation mimicked in modern-day construction and referred to as “dry-stacked stone.” In many ways, our ancestors in the building industry applied sustainable practices by using the larger quarried blocks for building construction and smaller waste pieces for erosion control and walkways. They also used the gravel to pave small roads from town to town.

However: we have moved beyond the stone age! Few cladding materials last as long or perform as well as natural stone when it is properly specified and installed. Not only is natural stone beautiful; it is also a low-maintenance, sustainable material. A project that uses stone is simply borrowing it from the earth; at the end of its long-life cycle, stone can be returned to the earth where its creation process began.

Here are five reasons to #UseNaturalStone for your next project:

1. Natural stone is a green material.

Natural stone’s inherent characteristics make it Mother Nature’s original green building product. It can be used without any additional finishes or wall coverings, has low maintenance needs, and is highly durable—and recyclable. Unlike the many cladding materials available on the market requiring extensive manufacturing energy, natural stone is extracted from the earth and processed by cutting and finishing.

Since building designs may be using more materials (and/or more carbon-intensive products) to achieve lower energy use, an increasing proportion of the total energy use and carbon emissions for high-performance buildings comes from its materials and products. By taking embodied energy into account, a project team can ensure it is designing for net carbon emission reductions. In the case of natural stone, this may consider the CO2 required in quarrying, transport to the plant, energy required for slabbing and fabrication, delivery to the site, and installation. Based upon most life-cycle analysis studies and comparisons, natural stone is consistently rated as one of the building materials with the lowest embodied energy across many metrics.

“The natural stone business in general is really focused on sustainability. The stone itself is a sustainable product as it is a very long-lasting building material. The manufacturing techniques and processes we use are always improving to reduce or reutilize waste, to reduce energy consumption, and to recycle water.” –Mike Picco, 2021 Natural Stone Institute board president

2. Natural stone is readily (and globally) available.

Stone is available regionally and locally, with quarry sites within 500 miles of nearly any building site in the United States and Canada. It’s also abundantly available in nature.

At the time of this post, a Google search for “natural stone slabs” yielded 42,000,000 results. No matter where you go, around the world you will find beautiful buildings and structures that are characterized by their use of natural stone. The variety and diversity of stone is unparalleled by other hard surface materials. Even if natural stone is not the right selection for every project, it continues to offer limitless uses.

3. Natural stone is varied.

By applying different finishes to the same native stone, designers can create an aesthetic variety without having to introduce a new material into the project. Unique finishing techniques applied to natural stone can create a range of tones and shades—varying from light to dark or muted to bold—achieving interest and contrast.

Every slab is unique. The finish applied to natural stone will have an important effect on how the material looks. While some choose a stone based on color alone, it’s important for the client to understand they are buying all the stone’s attributes—perceived flaws and all. Therefore, it is imperative during the selection process that the material be examined not only for color and pattern, but the surface looked at from all angles to evaluate its surface characteristics. Evaluating a stone’s composition will further introduce options for its use. The range in density, flexural and compressive strength, coefficient of friction, and other properties help define suitability for stone use as pavers, columns, lintels, and facades. Despite how much we know about stone through history and experience, we are learning more about its potential as a purely structural element, or its heat absorbing capability, sustainable merits, and its true abundance.

4. Save money using natural thin stone veneer.

Natural stone use is not defined by trends. It is ubiquitous; although like fashion, some colors are more desired than others through time. Also like fashion, sometimes premium products get repackaged and repurposed to be made more affordable. Natural thin stone veneer is a form of natural stone veneer that has been sawn to approximately 1” thickness with a ¼” tolerance allowed. To be classified as thin stone veneer, each piece must weigh less than 15lbs per square foot. The introduction of these sawn, lighter-weight pieces create ease of installation and provide the appearance of full-depth stone without sacrificing any of its beauty—typically used in exterior stone cladding, outdoor living features, and natural stone walls.

Natural stone ages well and retains its value. Whereas many building materials become unsightly over the course of many years, natural stone will transform with a natural patina. As an added benefit, it holds 93% of its original value at its peak, which is a higher percentile than most other cladding options.

5. Natural stone offers a Return-on-Investment (ROI).

Did you know natural stone can be designed to last for 100 years or more? It offers many benefits such as longevity and quantifiable ROI when applied to flooring. Being the most long lasting material available, natural stones like marble are often used in office towers and hotel lobby areas where frequent disruptions to repair or replace a floor would have an adverse impact on customers. In the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills hotel lobby pictured above, PICCO coordinated and produced the stone shop drawings and fabrication tickets for the contrasting Italian marble inlaid with bronze, along with all the interior public spaces, presidential suite, counters, bases and tubs, and miscellaneous stone elements.

Natural stone is versatile enough to achieve the aesthetic, performance, and cost goals on both the exterior and interior of your project over the long term. While it may seem that an engineered material might be lower maintenance than marble, it will never have the same depth, versatility, and range of color as natural stone. Natural stone is more resistant to scratches and staining than other materials. Applying an annual sealing process, combined with routine cleaning, will help to preserve its beauty and quality.

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An earlier version of this article appeared in the Fall 2020 edition of Building Stone Magazine.

The palatial estate of Eric Boch Jr. has been over a decade in the making. Boch’s home in Norwood, MA exudes elegance and refinement. The property’s most recent addition is an elaborate but tasteful natural stone chapel and mausoleum designed by Eric Inman Daum, AIA.

Forming the structure of the memorial pavilion are walls of ashlar Charcoal Black granite that was quarried by Coldspring in St. Cloud, MN. 9,600 square feet was supplied. The thickness of the granite veneer for the exterior walls ranges from 6 to 8 inches, while the interior wall veneer is 6 inches thick.

“Our first impulse was to use Quincy granite, but it is no longer available,” explained Daum. “We wanted to make an association to that.” The architect explained that Quincy granite was a common building material in 19th century New England, which leant a somber air to its buildings. Charcoal Black was recommended by Kenneth Castellucci & Associates, Inc, the stone installer for the project, because it possesses similar characteristics. “It was a universal decision across the board,” said Daum. “I’ve worked with them before and was delighted to again.”

Daum collaborated closely on the project with landscape architect Brian Frazier of Brian Frazier Design. The landscape design plays an essential role in bringing attention to the mausoleum and features architectural elements, including garden piers and walkways, as well as the paving on the porch, cut from Charcoal Black granite. “We wanted to draw people through and around the grounds,” explained Frazier. “There are two main axis—one from the main gate and the second from a farther corner near the pool. The original estate had a sunken lawn, which was removed at some point during the 70s or 80s when the property was subdivided and they built homes. I wanted to bring that element back. Placing it on the site in the mausoleum space made the most sense. There is a large curved granite seat wall. It sits in the middle of the space and has a vantage point of the entire site. It’s a quiet spot to sit and reflect.”

The Design

The Boch chapel and mausoleum is influenced by the Neoclassical movements of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The pavilion combines Greek and Roman motifs in the austere Neoclassical style of the Greek Revival period.

The primary space of the pavilion is a cube, surmounted by a hemispherical dome. Four wings project from the four faces of the cube to the cardinal points of the compass, which includes entry to the north, transepts to the east and west, and apse to the south. The north porch features four massive Greek Doric columns that are unfluted, except for a small portion below the capitals. The four visible corners of the cube are rusticated, and the deep horizontal joints create strong horizontal shadows emphasizing the mass and weight of the stone walls and the dome above.

“The client initially wanted the building to feel dank and oppressive,” said Daum. “We considered doing it as a load-bearing stone building. In the end, with consultation, the team decided to build a concrete box and dome and suspend the granite interior and exterior from that.”

Daum conceived and developed the building’s design. “Castellucci took the drawings and was the intermediary between me and Coldspring to get the details how I wanted,” he said. “Both Castellucci and Coldspring understood pretty quickly what was necessary. The client representative, interior designer, and I flew out to Coldspring where they pulled large slabs out that were reviewed and gave a range in terms of the grading, size, and quantity.”

The austere exterior gives way to a more luxurious colorful interior, with varied jewellike shades. “Working with the interior designer, he kept saying we need to push the design,” said Daum. “Looking at a broader range of Neoclassical architecture, I found an example of a reclaimed floor. I basically took that design and blew it up to the scale of this room. Having historical precedent was very important to me.”

Influences

One of the most prominent influences for the memorial pavilion was the Württemberg Mausoleum or sepulchral chapel located outside of Stuttgart, Germany, which was designed by Italian architect Giovanni Salucci. A second inspiration was the mausoleum designed by Scottish architect Robert Adam for the First Earl of Shelburne at his estate, Bowood in Wiltshire, England.

The floor features seven types of Italian and Spanish marble: Bianco Carrara Statuario, Fior De Pesco, Salome, Giallo Siena, Breccia Pernice, Rojo Alicante, and Portoro Black & Gold. The pattern was inspired by a design in Schnikel’s Glienicke Casino in Posdam, Germany.

“I showed Castellucci the casino photo and asked them to suggest a range of colors,” said the architect. “They provided 10 to 11 samples. The project team sat in a meeting and made choices together. That was a fun part of the process.”

The intricate marble floor pattern is complemented by six fluted columns carved from dark green Verde Alpi marble with dramatic veining. The columns have a diameter of 1 foot, 10 inches and are 10 feet, 6 inches high. They are composted in five stacked segments.

Beneath the sanctuary is the crypt, which can be reached by a Charcoal Black granite staircase positioned at the south of the building. “Originally, we were going to put the vaults in the floor, but the client decided that he wanted to use the building,” explained Daum. “The interior designer had worked with him for years, so he pushed the client. He told him that it could be used for dinner parties and intimate events, and that he should think about building a basement.”

The project was completed in five years from initial conceptual design to final construction. “It was put on hold for a little bit and then we came back to it. The foundation was poured in December 2016 and it was completed in October 2018. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Daum said. “The client’s team was tough and it was an incredibly aggressive schedule in regards to the production of the drawings. It was a tense and difficult project at times but having a superb contractor and stone contractor who all rose to the occasion, and Coldspring, too, made it a success.”

The Boch Garden Pavilion was the recipient of both a 2019 Pinnacle Award and a 2020 Tucker Design Award.

TAGS: case study residential inspire granite jennifer richinelli

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An earlier version of this article originally appeared in Building Stone Magazine.

 The London Guarantee Building, a designated Chicago Landmark, is considered one of the city’s finest examples of the Beaux Arts Classical Revival style. Located at the corner of North Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, the building became one of Chicago’s most visible and prominent pieces of real estate when it was built in 1923. For nearly a century, the structure provided prime office space for several Chicago businesses.

After 91 years of operating as an office building, the building was converted as part of an adaptive reuse program. The project began in 2014 and was completed in late 2016, creating the LondonHouse Chicago Hotel.

An Extensive Façade Repair

The facades of the building are primarily clad in standard buff Indiana limestone, accented with decorative terracotta coursing at the 17th, 18th, and 21st floors. Large carved limestone colonnades, balustrades, urns, vases, and griffins provide unique enrichments throughout the facades. The building is capped with a prominent 70-foot limestone and terracotta cupola overlooking Michigan Avenue, a distinctive feature that makes it easily identifiable in a sea of similar buildings.

Given the significant extent of limestone spalling and deterioration present throughout the exterior facades, a comprehensive rehabilitation program was prepared to revitalize the neglected cladding, focusing on restoring the limestone as closely as possible to its original beauty and appearance, according to Mike Naponelli, senior associate at Klein & Hoffman (K&H) in Chicago.

“Prior to preparing repair documents, K&H performed a condition assessment covering nearly 100% of the facades in an effort to develop the scope and extent of repair work,” Naponelli said. “K&H worked closely with building ownership to ensure the program we developed adhered to both their vision and budget for the building. The repair program focused on addressing deteriorated stones in a manner which would allow the repairs to blend with the original stone coursing, texturing, and color.

“The team [of five people, consisting of architects, engineers, and inspectors] achieved this through a rigorous stone matching and preparation process,” he explained. “Each replacement stone was lightly water-blasted in-situ to provide texture and color to closely match the existing 90-year-old stones.”

Approximately 400 tons—5,000 cubic feet—of Indiana limestone were supplied by Galloy & Van Etten, Inc. in Chicago to fabricate the replacement pieces. Over 1,200 limestone units of varying sizes were replaced throughout the facades.

The team at Galloy & Van Etten, Inc. utilized a BM multi-blade gang saw to slab the blocks, planers for the profiled pieces and an Infinity CNC machine from Park Industries for the radial work. Park Industries’ Jaguar Pro 3000, as well as saws from Tysaman and Sawing Systems, were also used for cutting the stone.

“All stone was either planer-or sand finished, then water-blasted to give it a weathered finish to match the existing stone,” said Tom Van Etten, owner of Galloy & Van Etten, Inc.

To add to the building’s green design and avoid unnecessary repairs, existing limestone from the building was salvaged and reused as much as possible. “Defects from large stones would be cut out and the remaining stone would be used elsewhere on the building as replacement stones or Dutchman piece-ins,” Naponelli said.

“Mock-ups were not needed, as we used the existing damaged stone as templates to fabricate the new pieces,” Van Etten added.

Merging Old and New

Matching all of the existing profiles and carving was a difficult process, which required great attention to detail. “In some cases, the stone was so deteriorated that we had to recreate the existing pieces before we could fabricate the new pieces,” Van Etten explained. “The most difficult part of the job was matching the large Dutchmen for the fluted columns and carved capitals at the front entrance. We’re quite proud of the fact that you cannot differentiate the new stone from the existing.”

In stone masonry, Dutchmen are stone insets selectively replacing only the fault in stone with new or reused stone material. The Corinthian column capitals at the building’s main entrance were damaged and missing large sections of the acanthus leaves and scrolls, as Van Etten mentions, so ornate Dutchmen were installed and final detailing was hand-carved in-situ to allow for the capitals’ elegant details to be matched precisely.

During the installation, accessing and maneuvering the several-thousand-pound replacement and reset stone pieces more than 20 stories above grading provide to be especially challenging, according to Naponelli and Don Seefeldt, senior executive vice president at Mark 1 Restoration Company in Dolton, IL, which completed the exterior installation.

“Ten limestone urns were reset across the rooftop parapet,” Naponelli said. “Each urn weighed approximately 4,000 pounds and required a crane to lift the decorative features. The urns had been removed 15 years prior because of significant outward displacement and concern that they may fall 21 stories to the sidewalks below.”

Most of the work was performed from swing-stage scaffolds. However, the degree of façade repair at the upper floors was so extensive that pipe scaffolding was erected from platforms cantilevered out as a putlog system for the 18th floor windows, allowing for the repairs to be performed. At these locations, entire cornices and belt courses were removed and rebuilt.

“The location of some of these stones presented a challenge in that cranes and hoists had to be used, and pipe scaffolding had to be erected on platforms in order to allow the work to be done safely,” Seefeldt explained. “In addition, the very busy intersection of Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue was also a significant challenge to ensure safety to pedestrians and traffic below.”

A crew of around 40 people from Mark 1 Restoration Company was required to complete the installation. From assessment through installation, the project took around two years to complete and has since received many awards, including a 2019 Natural Stone Institute Pinnacle Award in the Renovation/Restoration category.

“It was a great pleasure to work on such an iconic building in Chicago and to help restore it to its original grandeur,” Naponelli said. “The project would not have been a great success without the incredible talent from the repair contractor and the stone supplier.”

TAGS:  case study limestone historical renovation heather fiore inspire

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Note: This article is the first in a series about American quarries. If you work for a quarry that’s a member of the Natural Stone Institute and you’d like your quarry to be featured here, contact Karin Kirk. Thank you!

Every block of stone holds a story. Not just in its geologic past, but also in the ways that stone becomes part of human history. In 1886 the Statue of Liberty presided over New York harbor to greet waves of immigrants earnest for their chance to pursue the American dream. Lady Liberty stands on a pedestal built from American granite quarried 80 miles away, off Long Island Sound. The stone is from Branford Connecticut, which was home to more than a dozen quarries and a workforce of skilled stonemasons and quarriers from around the world. Families from Italy, Sweden, Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Finland settled in Connecticut to work in the dusty, noisy, and prosperous quarries. These immigrants built the very foundation of one of the defining symbols of America, which in turn welcomed thousands of new immigrants to American shores.

Darrell Petit, who’s worked at the Stony Creek Quarry for over 30 years, admires how “the great immigration workforce” played a large role in launching the Stony Creek granite into prominence. Over 160 years later, Stony Creek’s legacy shines as brightly as ever, upholding tradition while keeping a clear eye on the future.

“We have a really patriotic story,” says Tom Cleveland, Director of Sustainability at Stony Creek Quarry. Behind every successful quarry is a collaboration between the forces of nature that created the stone, and human inventiveness that built it into a successful venture. What better time to celebrate American ingenuity and craftsmanship than right now?

A granite capable of ‘monumental-scale work’

Stony Creek granite blocks were quarried and handcrafted to build the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1886. Image by K. Daley/NPS/ Statue of Liberty National Monument.

While granite is a common stone in New England, Stony Creek granite has an ability few can match. “If architects need huge blocks, this quarry can make them,” says Cleveland. Petit describes the quarry’s output as “colossally large-scale blocks” that make “monumental-scale work.” He praises the stone as “capable of interacting with the world’s great designers.”

In addition to the Statue of Liberty pedestal, Stony Creek granite forms the Battle Monument of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, designed by Stanford White (McKim Meade & White) made from a single, seamless piece of stone of astonishing scale: 46 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter and 96 tons. Dealing with stone that large is no mean feat in any era, much less in 1897.

Stony Creek’s combination of an impressive stone and the creative efforts of designers has produced scores of iconic works, particularly in the Northeastern U.S. The variegated pink, black, and white granite can be found on the campus of Columbia University, Battery Park, the Smithsonian, and the landmark Phillip Johnson designed former AT&T corporate headquarters, as well as sidewalks, parks, and facades throughout New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.

Petit appreciates the outsized role of Stony Creek granite: “We’re part of the legacy of classic American quarries that built the foundation of this country’s architecture.”

Early adopters of sustainability

Stony Creek granite has been quarried in Connecticut for over 160 years and has been used to build landmarks and iconic projects throughout the United States. Image by Sean Kernan Studio.

“Sustainability is a cornerstone of our brand,” says Cleveland with equal parts pride and enthusiasm. “We want to exert leadership by promoting natural stone as the sustainable building material.” The stone industry’s standard for sustainability is called ANSI/NSC 373, which sets various benchmarks for ethical and environmental performance throughout a quarrying operation. The Stony Creek quarry obtained Gold-level certification in 2018.

Ariel Russ worked on Stony Creek’s original sustainability certification as part of her graduate degree in environmental management from Yale University School of Forestry, located just 20 minutes away from the quarry. “It was really cool to get boots on the ground – literally – and to see the whole operation,” she says. The first step toward managing one’s footprint is to understand where the big draws of energy and resources are occurring. Russ compiled and analyzed baseline data on the amount of electricity, gasoline, diesel, water, and chemicals used in the operation.

Russ describes quarrying as “a very slow, natural process. It didn’t feel deleterious.” She came away with an affinity for the small and careful operation. “It doesn’t feel as industrial as I’d originally anticipated. It’s not super loud, it doesn’t feel aggressive,” she says.

Russ passed the baton to Cleveland, who now spearheads Stony Creek’s sustainability program. Cleveland is part of a new focus to quantify ‘embodied carbon,’ which is a tally of the amount of energy and greenhouse emissions used during the manufacturing of materials. Although buildings typically employ ways to save energy during the structure’s lifespan, the up-front energy that’s inherent in the materials is sometimes overlooked. Cleveland would like to change that, and he emphasized that since natural stone was created by the earth, naturally, the amount of energy required to make it is smaller than other materials. “We’re in a race to reduce carbon emissions,” says Cleveland. “The most important thing is just not putting it into the air.”

Cleveland went on to describe some of the company’s sustainability efforts, such as reducing the use of blasting in the quarry and instead using diamond wire saws to remove blocks from the quarry face. Compared to blasting, using a wire saw generates less dust, is less disruptive, and is safer for quarriers.  Stony Creek has also managed to reduce their use of toxic chemicals, dramatically shrink their solid waste output, and has adopted a more deliberate planning process throughout their company so that the impacts on the surrounding landscape can be minimized. The sustainability standard requires public communication and transparency, so you can read about Stony Creek’s benchmarks in their corporate sustainability report.

Both Cleveland and Russ are excited about larger shifts in the industry, where customers and architects are helping to drive improvements in environmental stewardship. “A quarry is at the root of the supply chain,” says Russ, and what better place to start improving the environmental impact of a project.

Managing Stony Creek’s ‘ongoing legacy’

Petit speaks to a different type of sustainability – the ability of the quarry to continue to generate stone for historical projects. For these “ongoing legacies,” new stone must match the original stone. When historic projects undergo expansions or renovations, the quarry can ensure that the correct stone is in continuous supply. For example, the floors of some buildings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art are made from Stony Creek Granite. As the museum expands, the same stone can be matched to existing stone.

The Statue of Liberty is another chapter in Stony Creek’s enduring story. More than 130 years after the original granite pedestal was built, about 450 tons of freshly quarried Stony Creek granite was installed throughout the Statue of Liberty Museum, which opened in 2019.

These historic projects require more care and planning than when starting with a blank slate. Getting the details just right is a major focus for Petit and his colleagues. “It leverages our knowledge and experience,” he says.

Projects great and small

Not every project involves 25-ton blocks of stone or 100-year old architecture. Stony Creek granite is used for more typical projects, too. “We’re open to the community,” says Petit. Homeowners, contractors, architects, landscapers are welcome to visit. “If you’re looking for stone, go to the source,” he advises. Stony Creek granite can be used as countertops, veneer, stair treads, building stone, and landscaping stone. In any case, Petit would be happy to lend advice on how to best use the stone.

“There’s no better phone call to make than to the origin, instead of third, fourth, or fifth-hand information,” says Petit. “We’re an educational resource.”

Stewardship of the stone

For a stone that’s made such a big impact, the quarry is surprisingly small. “It takes like 10 minutes to drive around the whole thing,” says Russ. “It’s very tangible.”

The 55-acre site is “completely surrounded by civilization,” says Petit. “We have to operate as environmental stewards.”

While the massive blocks are the hallmark of the operation, every piece of stone that comes out of the quarry has a purpose. From 30-foot long blocks, down to crushed gravel, “everything on this property is a material that has its use,” says Petit.

Petit explains that sustainability can’t be an afterthought – it’s at the forefront of the business. “You’re after the choice blocks,” he says, which take time, experience, and care to extract. The ethos of a sculptor shines through in his comments. “There’s no need to proceed recklessly or carelessly,” he says. “We’re working with the utmost respect.”

A tectonic cataclysm

While a 160-year old quarry is noteworthy, Stony Creek granite is far older than that.

New England is the geologic equivalent of one of those disastrous traffic-accident videos one sees on YouTube, where at first one car smashes into bridge abutment, and then cars from behind skid into the scene, adding layer upon steaming layer to the carnage. On a continental scale, New England took shape as one landmass after another slid into the coastline, crumpling up the existing rock layers, wedging oncoming rocks into the midst of existing rocks, and re-melting old rocks into newer versions of themselves.

At the end of a 200 million-year sequence of tectonic cataclysm, all the world’s continents stood fused as one colossal landmass: Pangea. During this moment in Earth’s history, Stony Creek granite was beginning to cool off for at least the second time.

The deep history of Stony Creek granite is told by some of its tiniest ingredients. Minerals called zircons are geology’s storykeepers. These minerals crystallize from liquid magma and have a remarkable way of preserving the telltale clues of subsequent events that have taken place, packing a huge expanse of space and time down into a tiny grain.

“Go to Figure 5,” says Robert Wintsch, as he guided me through his research paper. Wintsch is a geologist who has spent years solving the puzzle of Stony Creek granite and similar rocks that dot southern New England. In the paper, Figure 5 showed magnified images of zircon crystals that are about the size of a small gain of sugar. Detail by intricate detail, Wintsch narrated his way through the image, pointing out the original core of the crystal that first cooled around 360 million years ago in the Devonian Period, around the same time as the first four-legged animals nosed out of the sea and began to explore the land.

But the story doesn’t end there. The texture of the zircon crystals revealed a spider’s web of cracks running through them. In some cases the crystals had become “dismembered,” says Wintsch, as the stone was fractured. This microscopic evidence spoke to a landscape-scale event, as Stony Creek granite got caught at the “tip of the spear” of an oncoming landmass called Avalon. The collision shattered the rock and shoved Stony Creek granite deep into Earth’s crust, where it melted somewhat, but not completely. As the rock cooled off, large, blocky feldspar crystals formed. The zircon crystals, which survived the re-melting event, received a fresh layer of material around their edges, not unlike a tree ring. At this point in geologic time, 288 million years ago, the supercontinent of Pangea had finally taken shape. A Himalayan-scale mountain range loomed over New England. This was the last tectonic collision endured by the eastern U.S.

Geology holds the key to Stony Creek’s large blocks

Wintsch speaks with a sense of affection as he describes Stony Creek granite. “Like cirrus clouds,” he says, of the wispy bands of black mica that give the stone a hint of a wavy, linear grain to it. The subtle movement is leftover from the stone’s original texture, and it gives the stone character. But when the stone was partially re-melted it erased most of the stone’s linear flow and replaced it with a blockier texture, which has no particular direction to the grain. This lack of grain is what allows the Stony Creek to be quarried in large blocks, free from planes of weakness. Stony Creek’s re-melting turned out to be its 288-million-year-old secret to success.

While Wintsch looks for clues buried deep in the past, Petit asserts that even in the relatively short span of human history, Stony Creek granite has made a lasting contribution. When it comes to sustainability and long-term use, “there is no better material than stone,” he says. “Our legacy is in terms of centuries.”

More from the American Stones Series

Reprinted with permission from Polycor.

With outstanding monuments and some of the world’s best museums and cultural institutions, Washington, D.C. is a must-see destination. While the sheer number of sites may seem overwhelming, Washington is an easily navigable city. The nation’s capital is rather compact in size and easy to explore on foot. You might say it’s the perfect walking city. Washington was elegantly planned by Frenchman Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who came to America to fight in the Revolutionary War and went on to become a trusted city planner for George Washington.

Each memorial and monument is an opportunity to reflect on the history of the country and its defining moments and people. It’s easy to focus on the individual buildings and monuments. When you do, you will see that many of these historic and important structures are made of stone from America’s greatest quarries.

The Lincoln Memorial, WHITE CHEROKEE marble.

Stop #1: The Lincoln Memorial

First things first. Start your tour by saying hello to Honest Abe. The Lincoln Memorial is easily one of our favorite sites in the city. Located at the western end of the National Mall, the dignified memorial features an imposing 19-foot statue of a seated President Abraham Lincoln. It overlooks a reflection pool and the views from the memorial are spectacular. Since it was dedicated in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial has been home to many defining moments in American history. It was on the memorial’s steps, for example, that Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

The structure was designed by Daniel Chester French in the style of a Greek temple with 36 Doric columns representing the 36 States of the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death. The interior chamber’s columns, lintels and walls were cut from Indian Limestone, a beautiful light-grey to bluish-grey oolitic limestone. It’s an example of how the subtle and sophisticated Indiana Limestone has given some of the most iconic buildings in the country the gravitas and elegance they deserve. The Lincoln statue itself is composed of White Cherokee marble from Georgia, meticulously carved from 28 separate blocks and weighing an astonishing 175 tons. The finished pieces were shipped individually from the renowned Piccirilli Brothers’ studio in NYC direct to Washington to be reassembled with perfectly matching joints, giving the appearance of a monolithic piece of marble. Originating from Polycor’s centuries-old quarry, Georgia marble is both stylish and homogeneous, making it a natural choice for major architectural projects and American heritage buildings.

The Washington Monument Plaza benches, carved in White Cherokee marble. The plaza pavers are flamed CAMBRIAN BLACKⓇ granite pavers.

Stop #2: The Washington Monument Plaza

Next, cross through the famed National Mall, America’s most-visited national park (it’s sometimes called America’s front yard). As you wander along the wide, pedestrian-friendly, tree-lined boulevards you can’t help but feel just how much you are surrounded by history, as well as by the present—you’re sure to see political activism in action. The Mall is the perfect place to take five and fuel up. Food trucks have become a less monumental, but no less sought after, attraction. Grab lunch, then head over to the Washington Monument plaza, which surrounds the towering Washington Monument in the center of the Mall. Take your lunch on one of the long and elegant plaza benches made of polished White Cherokee marble. They curve around the plaza, appearing to float on a surface of flamed Cambrian Black granite pavers. With the Washington Monument as a backdrop it’ll be one of the most memorable, and monumental lunches, you’ll have.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, BETHEL WHITE® granite.

 Stop #3: The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

At the far side of the mall are the world-renowned Smithsonian Museums. They are collectively called the Smithsonian Institution, and consist of 17 museums, galleries, and a zoo. The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is an all-time favorite that first opened in 1910 and is dedicated to natural world discoveries. Inside are 140 million-plus natural science specimens and cultural artifacts. From the outside it beckons you with its green dome and immense size (it’s about as big as 18 football fields). The museum is clad in flawless, even grained polished Bethel White granite quarried in Bethel, Vermont. The stone’s purity of color and uncommon strength have made it a natural fit for grand projects that will stand the test of time and quality. The Bethel White granite has maintained its bright white tonality over the last century thanks to its unique mineral properties. The design by renowned architects Daniel Burnham and Charles McKim includes immense intricately carved Corinthian column capitals—a stunning feature of this Beaux-Arts style that make this stop worth the trip.

James Madison Memorial Building at the Library of Congress, White Cherokee marble.

Stop #4: James Madison Memorial Building at the Library of Congress

From the Smithsonian, it’s just a few minutes to the next stop. The James Madison Memorial Building at the Library of Congress is awaiting your arrival. This vast building is both a memorial to a president and the largest library structure in the world (it encompasses 1.5 million square feet of space). That’s fitting, as the 4th president of the United State, and Father of the Constitution, James Madison, was known to be a particularly literate president. The Madison Building was designed by the firm of DeWitt, Poor, and Shelton. Construction began in 1976 and it opened in 1980. With its tall colonnade of unadorned piers, the design references classical architectural ideals while also embracing a modern spirit. The building is clad entirely in large panels of White Cherokee marble. This Georgia marble has been quarried for well over a century and its density and tightly interlocking calcite crystals make it a durable choice for exterior applications. It’s also a popular choice for countertops and other residential applications.

The Folger Shakespeare Library, WHITE GEORGIA marble.

Stop #5: The Folger Shakespeare Library

It’s just a couple minutes jaunt, but in a culturally linear path, to the Folger Shakespeare Library. A couple of hours will fly by as you take in the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare-related and rare Renaissance books. The Folger holds more than 250,000 books and 55,000 manuscripts from 1641 to the time of Mark Twain. The museum is also known as an innovator in rare print preservation. Indeed, the contents are wonderful, but for many visitors, the building is an equal draw. It was designed by Paul Philippe Cret, for (and with) Henry and Emily Folger, a New York couple who shared a lifelong passion for Shakespeare and collecting. The building makes a bold figurative statement about the importance of culture to a democracy—and a literal one. It’s extensively ornamented with inscriptions of quotations by and about Shakespeare. But what may grab you first are the bas relief sculptures on the exterior of the building. Carved in White Georgia marble they illustrate Shakespeare’s works with vivid detail.

White Georgia marble is an excellent medium for carving and sculpting.

The Corcoran Gallery of Art, White Georgia marble.

Stop #6: The Corcoran Gallery of Art

Next stop, the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Beaux-Arts landmark near the White House was long Washington’s oldest private art gallery with a fine collection of American paintings curated by the founder of the museum, William Wilson Corcoran. These include “George Washington” by Gilbert Stuart and “Niagara” by Frederic Edwin Church. The collection also includes works from the great European artists including Delacroix, Renoir, Monet, Rembrandt, Degas, and Picasso. The building was designed by the American architect Ernest Flagg and opened its doors in 1897. Today, the collections have been taken over by the Smithsonian and the National Gallery, and the building now houses the Corcoran College of Art and Design. The lavish style of the building was a natural choice in the 19th century for this kind of private gallery. For art patrons it was a chance to demonstrate their wealth and their public spirit of charity. Of note in the building is the elegant curving facade made of White Georgia marble, and the interior grand staircase, made up of solid blocks of the same marble each over a foot thick.

The National Cathedral, Indiana Limestone.

Stop #7: The National Cathedral

Not far from the famed Smithsonian Zoo, north of the Mall and its monuments, is the majestic National Cathedral. It would be hard to miss the neo-Gothic structure. It’s one of the biggest churches in the US. While construction started at the turn of the 20th century, the National Cathedral employs the traditional building techniques of the 14th-century English Gothic style. The medieval style was hugely innovative in structure, technique, and materials (did we mention it was labor intensive?). The cathedral was built using solid masonry, with no steel reinforcement on any part of the building. The various elements of the building — buttresses, pinnacles, arches, vaulting — bear against each other to keep the building intact and upright.

Most of the architectural stone on the magnificent cathedral was fabricated in the great limestone mills of Indiana. Rustic Buff Indiana limestone used for many of the ornate stone carvings in and around the church: These works of art were executed in clay by sculptors then cast into plaster models to be reproduced in stone by the carvers. The statuary, finials, rosettes, reliefs and other carved elements arrived at the cathedral in block or roughed out form. Indiana limestone’s strength and uniform character made it the natural choice, too, for the flying buttresses and arches that hold the structure together.

Fun fact: The master stone artisans were also given some freedom to add some of their own signature touches to certain carvings on the cathedral such as gargoyles, the menacing-looking carvings on exteriors of medieval churches designed to ward off evil spirits, and, functionally, to direct rainwater from foundations and stained glass windows. Visitors might be surprised to see what looks like a Darth Vader gargoyle. They’re correct. In the 1980s, while the cathedral’s two west towers were under construction, a competition was held for the design of one of the gargoyles. A young teen submitted a drawing of the Star Wars villain and now Darth Vader is embedded in stone on the capital’s National Cathedral. A wonderfully American story.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Bethel White granite.

Stop #8: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Cap off your event-filled day with a concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. If your budget allows, snag a ticket to a coveted play or musical. If not, there are free concerts of various genres on the Millennium Stage at 6 p.m. every evening. The center is not far from the Lincoln Memorial where the day of touring started, so we’ve come almost full circle. President Lyndon B. Johnson laid the cornerstone shortly after Kennedy was assassinated, and the center opened in 1971. The Kennedy presidency was in great part defined by its promotion of the arts. Noted authors, musicians, poets and artists frequently visited and performed at the Kennedy White House. Today the center is one of the country’s premier performing arts spaces. It was designed by famed architect Edward Durrell Stone. The expansive plazas are covered in 2″ thick flamed Bethel White granite pavers and treads leading up the grand staircase, as well as surrounding planter walls and caps done in honed finishes. The medium grain, white granite has been quarried in Bethel, Vermont since the 19th century and has become a world standard for monumental grade granite.

Union Station, Bethel White granite.

Stop #9: Union Station

If you are leaving D.C. you might be doing so via Union Station, the capital’s impressive train station. But even if an Amtrak trip isn’t part of the plan, a visit to the spectacular station should be on your list. Union Station opened in 1908 after a three year building project. The Beaux-Arts design, with grand statues, majestic arches, dramatic staircases, gold leaf ceilings and a lovely plaza, is truly remarkable. It was also built with Bethel White granite. At the outset of the building project European stone masters were brought in. One of them carved a small statue of a young woman with flowing hair tumbling over her shoulders. She wears a rippling garment and flowers cradled in her arms. The statue was carved to prove that granite could hold the edges required to make the fine detail needed in the huge tableaux. It has continued to do so up to this day.

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An earlier version of this article appeared in Building Stone Magazine.

The newest building on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, PA is Perry World House. As a hub for international exchange and activity, the Perry World House anchors Penn’s global resources on an interdisciplinary campus while creating partnerships abroad. The building offers a wide range of spaces, including classrooms, meeting rooms, 14 offices, a 50-person conference room and common rooms. A glass-enclosed atrium called the World Forum occupies the building’s heart and is used as a multipurpose events space. The 17,400 square foot academic building combines the oldest building on the University campus—a historic house built in 1851—with a new Renaissance Beige limestone-clad structure.

According to Ed Parker, principal architect of 1100 Architect, the goal for the project was to create a new focal point for global policy research and international affairs at the University of Pennsylvania. “Shared by each of the university’s 12 schools, the building would need to support interdisciplinary exchange and a wide range of programs, from small-group study to 200-person events. Destined for a university campus with such a singular history of architectural achievement, the design, of course, would need to take the building’s context into careful account.”

A portion of the original house was salvaged and reconstructed, per historic documentation, and its faux limestone stucco is referenced in the new addition, which is clad in natural limestone both inside and out. Merging old and new architectural styles offers the added benefit of matching both the pedestrian scale of Locust Walk on one side and the busy urban scale of 38th Street on the other. ABC Worldwide Stone was responsible for sourcing, selecting, quality checks, logistics and fabrication approvals on all 1,850 cubic feet of Renaissance Beige limestone.

“This project began like pretty much everything we do here at ABC, an in-depth conversation with the architect,” said Ken Saretsky of ABC Worldwide Stone. “We listen and learn as much as we can about the client, project site, scope of work, the climate, application, budget and schedule. This dialogue leads to sampling and slab viewing here at our facility. We also provide preliminary budgeting, test data and images of projects that have used the same material. This project also spent a fair amount of time with finishes and, more importantly, engineering due to the unique geometry of the building. The complex form of the Perry World House structure, combined with the necessary exactitude involved in dealing with large panels of limestone, required an innovative approach to stone engineering. Further, we wanted to be respectful of the natural slope and grade of the surrounding landscape. The new structure was to be erected without impinging on or greatly changing the natural state of the land it was to sit upon.”

The project also presented more of a natural test — trying to find consistency in the large quantity of limestone that was specified. “We flew to Germany and handpicked materials several times throughout the process to ensure reasonable uniformity,” said Saretsky. “Further, we knew that any error in installation tolerances would stop the installation and cause scheduling delays and have serious cost impacts. The potential consequences of errors in installation tolerances demanded a thorough process of managing and verifying during the early engineering phases. We also had to account for the innate complexities involved with designs containing several integral mitered connections.”

“Stone was integral to our design in many ways,” said Parker. “The building occupies a prominent site on campus, directly adjacent to the University president’s house, across the street from The Wharton School of Business, and along the main pedestrian thoroughfare, Locust Walk. We used stone differently for each elevation, tailoring the building to those different contexts. The stone allowed us to modulate the building’s scale, exerting a strong presence along the edge that faces a six-lane road, but becoming more residentially scaled on those edges that face a pedestrian path and campus houses. We selected Jura limestone for its performance characteristics, value and unique aesthetic veining. We considered other limestones but, with the client, determined Jura to be best suited for this project due to these considerations.”

According to stone installer Edward Gilpin of Belfi Brothers, “We had six guys installing stone every day in a mortar bed installation. The stone was a nice product and ABC Worldwide Stone was excellent to deal with. I think overall everyone is pleased with the results.”

This was the first time in the U.S. that this vein-cut selection of the Renaissance Beige had been used for a cladding project. The interior design features Renaissance Beige limestone with a crosscut and honed finish — totaling 3,500 square feet of 12- x 24- x 5/8-inch-thick, cut-to-size pavers and various 1 1/4-inch-thick treads, platforms and risers.

“We used the Jura vein cut for the façade part of the interior walls, which are an extension of the façade so that the stratification of the sedimentary layers were exposed in the orientation it had in the ground,” said Parker. “We also used it on the floor of the interior of the building but in a cut that was parallel to the layers so (similarly) it was oriented in the way it would be naturally.”

With its open and flexible spaces, the Perry World House reflects and supports the aims of the institution it houses. The goal was to create an environment filled with natural light, where different perspectives can be discussed in different types of settings. Transparency between spaces reinforces an emphasis on cooperation between academic disciplines and varying world views, while the dialogue of the 19th-century cottage and a 21st-century building gives form to the timelessness of
these pursuits.

“This project is architecturally significant,” said Saretsky. “It’s prominently located at one of America’s most prestigious universities. David Piscuskas and his team at 1100 Architects cleverly married a historic building from 1851 with a new incredible stealth-like facade. The juxtaposition of old and new makes for a truly unique structure.”

The project received a 2017 Pinnacle Award in the Commercial Exterior category. Jurors called the project an amazing transformation of a declining historic house into a vibrant modern jewel of an office building.

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