Ralph:

The Altmans Fountains restoration was one of the few occasions that any one
let me work on something inside of a building! Thanks for the complement.

Do I understand you correctly, are you presently working on the exterior?

I was not involved with the exterior. That came after my work. I remember
Pasvalco being involved as it came up in conversation. I was often in touch
with Frank Melka regarding other projects.

I walked by that building many times, as my wife later worked at Oxford
Press in the graphic design department. I think of it as a beige stone.
Nothing ever fell on my head.

Going at least as far back back to Michelangelo, the history of stone
sculpture and building is full of stories of stone suppliers trying to sell
flawed stone to sculptors and architects. Being a stone quarrier is possibly
thge world's oldest  profession. This was the case with the main statues by
D.C.French at the Customs House in NY.

No two stones are totally alike. Even when one goes back to an original
quarry, it is difficult to obtain like stone. There are so many natural
factors. It may no longer be realistic to find exactly what was available
75-100 years ago. New quarried stone,  can look different than cleaned
weathered stone. I think weathering compatibility is more of an important
consideration.

Over here  in Switzerland, they like their repairs to stand out a little and
they leave some of the rough edges on a building. Hard to believe in this
neat little country.

The French Limestones I have cut have been golden in color and yes, so soft
that you could cut it with a hack saw or wood saw and finish with wood
files. Not much harder than plaster. These stones are wonderful to use when
teaching beginners to carve. The stones I used were not remnants or salvage
stones. I assume the softness is a characteristic, not a result of
weathering. I don't know how recently they had been quarried. The
carvability of a fresh quarried stone with "sap" in it is a bit different
than the powdery softness of these French Limestones.

Among stonecarvers,this softness is a known quality. Granite carvers don't
even consider it a stone. Those guys are pretty macho though!

I have encountered Indiana Limestone way up on buildings (Cleveland Tower at
Princeton U., 180' ), where the stone was subject to severe weathering and
winds, where the stones surface had a more crystal-like surface, and the
interior was like new stone. Thin units such as delicately carved pinacles
were crystalized and quite brittle. One of the qualities of Indiana,even
though the surface may erode and pit, a unit holds its form and will most
often not break down, like white marble or sandstone. The inclusion of
ferrous anchors and pins during construction, which subsequently oxidized,
keep giving guys like me work.

Now, there are many French Limestones, and some go more towards beige in
color. The Caen stone is somewhere between golden and beige. In the Gothic
period, Gypsum was also quarried and used on buildings.

There are also other American Limestones, beige like Indiana, but have a
different consistency than Indiana. There was one from Texas, one from
Tennessee. These may no longer be quarried. The competition from Indiana may
have been to great. Even in Indiana, many small quarries were swallowed up
and consolidated by the Indiana Limestone Co.

The Cathedral of St. John Divine had some economic involvement with a
Limestone quarry in Alabama. This stone was all around the stone yard, a bit
whiter than the Indiana, and a bit softer.

Knowing the size of the stones at Altman's, especially after the description
you gave of the column, I find it hard to imagine that it would all be
brought over from Europe. The stone industry in America was in full swing by
that time period.

Well, Ralphy thats all for now, hope it helps,

Nick



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