The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-10
BUILDING STONES.

In saying that I'VE are getting out of the
wooden age of building in California" A.
Page Brown, the architect, has put in
other words the declaration that Califor-
mans are beginning to learn wisdom and
acquire pride. In spite of the fact that
California has greater variety of building
stones than any other spot in the world,
we have been constructing wooden houses
for forty-tive years, having failed even to
follow the wiser plan of the old Mexican
residents In using adobes for buildings
The one excuse for wooden houses has
been fear of earthquakes, and the expert
ence of years has discovered this to be one
of the most absurd of follies. 1t was the
dominating idea in the construction of the
Mob Hill mansions - if prodigious
wooden shanties may be dignitied by such
name. Flood was the first to show his
contempt for the silly fear, but instead OF
using the fine stones of California he Sc
cured his brownstone from Connecticut
anu shipped it round the Horn.
The variety OF building stones in the
State surpasses ordinary comprehension.
They take every geological form, including
lavas, infusorial rocks, sedimeDtary rocks
and amorphous varieties without limit.
Thus we have basalt, granite, innumera-
bic varieties of sandstones, states and mar
bles. The sandstones run in color from
slate to deep red and from pale yellows
to shades of brown. The marbles are of a
remarkable variety, from pure white
through regular situations to the most
grotesque and beautiful markings in all
conceivable brilliant colors. The red
sandstone, seen in the Chronicle and Cali
fornia Hotel buildings, is as handsome as
Connecticut brownstone, fully as good and
incomparably cheaper. Besides all these,
we make superb brick and terra Gotta.
1t is about time for those owning accessi-
bic deposits of building stones to begin to
think of their value. Some homogeneous
things appear in the handling of building
stones at present. For instance, while fine
marble of many kinds exist in the noun
tains and foothills of the San Joaquin
Valley, where it could be easily reached
and delivered in San Francisco at compare
lively small expense, we get the most of
our marble from Inyo, whence it has to be
shipped great distance by way of Carson
and over the Sierra Nevada to the City
that is, we ship it out of California into
Nevada and then back into the State, TAX
ing TWO railroads and the highest range of
mountains for the task. 1t is not surpris-
ing that so little marble is used. Very few
of the quarries of any kind accessible to
San Francisco have been opened.
The superiority of many of these stones
over the imported article is familiar to
well-informed persons. A. Guise, a marble
cutter of this City, gives exceedingly valu-
bic information in saying that the imported
marble used exclusively in the Italian ceme-
terry is vastly inferior to the California stone
and that the California stone bears the
climate better than any we can bring from
distance. A popularity of most of the
sandstones is their softness in the quarry
and their acquiring great hardness on ex-
posure. This largely reduces the cost of
quarrying, carving and dressing.