c,

Talk about brown stuff... my black bean soup just now exploded in the 
microwave. So I am informed there is a technique called putting a lid on it.

Anyways... I'll have to look for your article. In the mean time Mr. 
desJardins does have a point that stucco as a masonry media does have an 
interesting character palate. I do have a problem with the aesthetics 
and the nomenclature and the physical nature of the stuff when it is 
applied as strip n' stucco over brownstone. Folks tend to call these 
stuccoed facades Brownstones and once stuccoed treat the faux finish as 
heritage sacred, even calling it brownstone, worse yet once a coating is 
applied over what usually ends up to be that cracked and defective and 
often just as delaminating smear of colored mortar it does get coated, 
latex or otherwise and still is called brownstone.

When visiting Kheim in Augsburg where stucco and coatings is a refined 
science I had the hardest time understanding why they kept talking about 
'natural' stone until it occurred to me that there was such a small 
amount of it in their environment that it made sense to make a 
distinction. Most everything else that you see around Munich that looks 
like stone is actually stucco. Least ways though the Germans got a real 
good sense to make mortar with colors look like real stone, if you do 
not stand too closely, in NYC there is a grand hodge podge confusion 
between the language and the variety of materials applied. When it is 
deliberate this mixing of language and materials with ever more faked 
materials in architecture I suppose it is a grand obfuscation. As good 
as any poem can get in the New Yorker.

There can be really nice stucco as I see it, with as much beauty and 
delicacy as any exposed aggregate concrete. Problem I think though is 
that as with snow whereas there may be 52 words for it in Eskimo in NY 
our stucco is called stucco, or brownstone. More prevalent in the 
Boroughs than in Manhattan there is the blending of stucco with timber 
as well as with brick and stone. Unlike with plaster that tends to be 
white, or painted over for stucco the aggregate (sand) can be of 
different grades, mixes and colors and the cementing matrix can also be 
of a natural or a tinted color. Though it does not work like plaster it 
can be troweled smooth, rough or textured in a pattern of massive globs 
with bold trowel slashes. You can also embed chunks of stuff in it like 
glass, beer bottle bottoms, rocks, sea shells, plastic Barbie doll 
heads, pickled pigs feet, raccoon pecker bones or whatever suits the 
creative fancy.

I wish Mr. desJardins luck with his color variations and pre-intended 
stucco cracks. I am also fond of the green algae that tends to grow up 
on these rough nutrient and water holding micro-ecologies.

][<

[log in to unmask] wrote:
> This weekend I let loose with another savage attack on "brownstone 
> restoration"   a la stucco.
>  
> Here's a letter of comment:
>  
> In a message dated 12/22/2007 2:42:46 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>     Dear Mr Gray,
>
>     I have a minor comment on your interesting article.  It's not
>     universally true that "Brown stucco is opaque and uniform, like
>     imitation-wood paneling."   Only modern stucco techniques make it
>     appear that way.  Most stucco today is applied with a top layer of
>     what is essentially latex paint, so of course it looks like a
>     fake, artificial surface.  But authentic stucco, as originally
>     applied, has a decidedly nonuniform appearance, which includes
>     cracks and color variations and other "imperfections" (beauty
>     marks?).  I'm building a (contemporary) house in Princeton with
>     what I hope will be a more authentic form of stucco.
>
>     Sincerely,
>
>     David desJardins
>

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