[MassHistPres] seam faced granite

[Sullivan, Charles M.]

One early Cambridge example is the Edwin Abbott house at 1 Follen Street (now the Longy School of Music (1888, Longfellow Alden & Harlow), with brownstone trim. A later one is the parish house of the First Parish in Cambridge (1901, William P. Richards, architect). In the latter case the granite was reported as having been quarried in Weymouth. The material was used most recently (that I know of) for a church on Alewife Brook Parkway in 1934, when it was sourced from Quincy.

Charles Sullivan
___________________________
Charles Sullivan, Executive Director
Cambridge Historical Commission
831 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Mass.  02139
617 349-4684

From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> On Behalf Of Dennis De Witt via MassHistPres
Sent: Monday, June 5, 2023 8:24 PM
To: MHC MHC listserve <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: [MassHistPres] seam faced granite

All

I have been digging a little into the use of seam faced granite — example below.

I wonder if Cram may have first popularized it as a contrasty somewhat rustic material, beginning with All Sts Ashmont in 1891 — altho do I find Henry Vaughan using it at St. Mary’s Upham’s Corner in ’88 but with non-contrasting brownstone trim.

Am I missing earlier examples?

It seems to have been a specifically Boston area quarried material and it strikes me as a Boston Arts & Crafts-ish example of using “reject” material, somewhat like the adoption of over-fired klinker a.k.a “bench” brick, but a tad earlier.

Dennis De Witt
Metropolitan Waterworks Museum

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