Brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic[1][2] sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material.
Types
Apostle Island brownstone
In the 19th century, Basswood Island, Wisconsin was the site of a quarry run by the Bass Island Brownstone Company, which operated from 1868 into the 1890s. The brownstone from this and other quarries in the Apostle Islands was in great demand, with brownstone from Basswood Island being used in the construction of the first Milwaukee County Courthouse in the 1860s.[3]
Hummelstown brownstone
Hummelstown brownstone is extremely popular along the East Coast of the United States, with numerous government buildings throughout West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Delaware being faced entirely with the stone, which comes from the Hummelstown Quarry in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, a small town outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Hummelstown Quarry is the largest provider of brownstone on the east coast. Typically, the stone was transported out of Hummelstown through the Brownstone and Middletown Railroad.[4]
Portland brownstone
Portland brownstone, also known as Connecticut River Brownstone, is also very popular. The stone from quarries located in Portland, Connecticut and nearby localities was used in a number of landmark buildings in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, New Haven, Hartford, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.
New Jersey brownstone
Quarries from the Passaic Formation in northern New Jersey once supplied most of the brownstone used in New York City and New Jersey.[6]
South Wales brownstone
Devonian aged sandstone is commonly used in Southern Wales.
Use in urban private residences
There are many brownstones throughout numerous
Brownstones are also scattered throughout
It has become fashionable to use the term "brownstone" to refer to almost any townhouse from a certain period, even though they may not have been built of brownstone. For example, many townhouses in
The Rittenhouse Square and Fairmount neighborhoods of Philadelphia also include examples of brownstone architecture. Many of these homes have been converted into apartment buildings.[citation needed]
Back Bay, Boston, is known for its Victorian brownstone homes – considered some of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States.[10]
Although some brownstones exist in Chicago, a similar residential form known as "greystones" is far more prevalent. A
Use in colonial country homes
Brownstone, also known as freestone because it can be cut freely in any direction, was used by early Pennsylvanian Quakers to construct stone mills and mill houses. In central Pennsylvania, some 1700s-era structures survive, including a residence known as the Quaker Mill House.[citation needed]