Posted by "Igneous"

From the Real Estate Record & Guide, February 3, 1883:

(Remarks from a lecture given by Dr. Alexis A. Julien, appointed by the
Building Stone Commission of the Census Department to investigate building
stone use)

"Stone enters into the construction, chiefly as fronts, of 11.6 percent of
all the buildings of the city.... 89.4% consist of sandstone, and the several
varieties of stone occur in the following proportion - Brown sandstone, 78.6;
Nova Scotia, 9.0; marble, 7.9; granite, 1.8; Ohio sandstone, 1.6; gneiss,
0.9; foreign sandstone, 0.1; bluestone and limestone, 0.1...."

"Builders and architects employ about the same obsolete and empirical in the
trial and selection of stone, notwithstanding the abundance of new
instruments and processes, and the rich discoveries concerning the structure
of stone of which the last quarter-century has been prolific...."

"It is the opinion of intelligent stone-cutters that in consequence of the
exposure of [brownstone] fronts to the severity of our climate, the majority
of them will be in ruins and the remainder much delapidated in a
comparatively short period....  It makes no great difference whether the
stone is laid parallel or perpendicular to its grain...."

"In this climate buildings are principally attacked from the north, northeast
and east....brownstone will be ruined by eighty years exposure to our
weather.  The Brooklyn Bridge, the foundations of which are built of
limestone, may rot in a few generations."

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Replies published in the issue of February 24,1883:

"Edward H. Kendall, architect of the Equitable Building... thought the
weathering of granite would hardly amount to one-thirty-secondth [sic] of an
inch in a hundred years."

"A leading stone merchant alleges that while brownstone is the very best
material for constructing edifices, there are varieties in the market which
will decay very readily.  There are sandstones which are really made up in
great party of clay.  These lack the chrystaline texture which gives
permanence....  The Scotch sandstone used in the construction of ....other
well-known buildings would prove to be a very costly material eventually.
Builders like it because it is easy tow work.  It costs nothing to bring it
from Scotland, except the handling, as it is brought as ballast, but experts
are of the opinion that it will soon crumble away..... [The William K.
Vanderbilt house, at the northwest corner of 52nd and Fifth, and the cover
illustration for the new book "New York 1880"] was made of Indiana limestone,
which looked very well at first, but has since become stained, due, it is
believed, to the presence of oil in the rock...."

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Further elaboration published in the issue of May 5, 1883:

[In predicting the demise of brownstone, Dr. Julien said he was only quoted
from an article in American Builder, and that laying on bed increased its
durability remarkably.]

"It had been shown, however, that sea air was not injurious to good stone....
 Another cause [of decay] was the heat of the sun ... the west side of
balusters on cross streets were the quickest to show signs of decay."