Thin-Stone Paneling Systems

Construction of the Flatiron Building in New York City exemplifies stone cladding technology of the early 20th Century. (History Daily)

Stone Cladding and the Steel Framed Skyscraper

Original stone veneers included marble, granite, travertine and limestone cut no less than two inches thick. A lack of installation and manufacturing technology prevented veneers from being installed higher than street level, and even then, veneers were most often used indoors. In the early 20th Century Stone cladding was often hung on steel framed skyscrapers with galvanized and painted steel rods on steel frames. Each level of a tall building would have an exterior bracing to support its cladding, thereby avoiding the slow build-up of mass that would otherwise have necessitated thick, load-bearing masonry. This method of installation was common into the 1920s and 30s, and laid the groundwork for the Vermont Marble Company’s thin exterior paneling systems that later exemplified postwar stone construction.

Modern Needs Push Innovation

Following WWII, the demand for modern, standardized and modular materials drove the Vermont Marble Company to experiment with thin panels to keep pace with Modern architecture. Though stone cut less than two inches was originally reserved for interiors, the drive for modernity drove the Vermont Marble Co. to develop products like precast concrete units with adhered stone veneers, aluminum and asbestos backed stone panels, and “shop bonded” prefabricated corner panels, all of which measured less than two inches thick. By the late 1940s, new installation hardware, joint sealants, and more advanced cutting technology made room for innovative uses of marble slabs.

This proliferation of new technology was spurred by rapidly changing demand and was not always adequately tested for durability over time. Modern architecture prized the machine aesthetic and innovative designs which encouraged technological advancement with little time for regulation, ultimately resulting in systemic problems with the long-term performance of Exterior stone paneling systems over time.

Beinecke Library

Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library opened in 1963 and marked a significant technological advancement in stone cutting technology and veneer installation. The Vermont Marble Company worked with architect Gordon Bunshaft to create monumental “windows” of translucent Montclair Danby marble. Each slab measures 8' square by 1¼" thick. These panels admit light into the library yet protect the books by regulating the intensity of light.

Selling The Stone

By the late 1940s the use of stone as a building material was on the decline. Postwar architecture prized the machine aesthetic and began emphasizing modularity and standardization as an alternative to traditional construction. The Vermont Marble Company saw thin stone panels as a way of keeping stone a viable option for architects and builders as load bearing and semi-load bearing stone was losing popularity. Ample literature in the Vermont marble Archive is emblazoned with “Marble goes modern!” while self-promotional documents from the early to mid-20th century boast technological advancements and veneer applications for both indoors and out, highlighting the company’s desire to remain relevant in an age of standardization and modularity.

Touting low cost, ease of installation and durability, Vermont Marble advertisements for stone veneers regularly graced trade journals. The material’s appeal to contractors and architects alike made stone panels a popular application for exterior and interior use throughout the 20th century, appearing on notable structures from the Rockefeller Time & Life Building to the United Nations Building.

Marble Goes Modern

Advertisement for asbestos-backed stone panels

Advertisement for marble veneer-faced precast concrete panels

Advertisement appealing to both glamour and economy

Masonic Memorial Temple

An Icon of Modern architecture, the Masonic Memorial Temple (also known as the Masonic, and the Masonic Auditorium) is located atop Nob Hill in San Francisco. The marble-clad building was designed by Albert Roller for the Masons of California. Opened in 1958, it serves as both an auditorium and war memorial. Modern marble friezes by Emile Norman bear the inscription “Dedicated to our masonic brethren who died in the cause of freedom.”

Installation Methods

Installation and Collaboration

The Vermont Marble Company was in direct partnership with modernist architects like Minoru Yamasaki, who not only employed stone veneers to great effect, but designed panel hardware and installation as well. Yamasaki’s 1963 working drawings for Princeton’s Robertson Hall illustrate architect involvement particularly well. The drawings show an economical gridwork of travertine panels complete with details of how each is jointed to one another along the same plane and at interior and exterior corners. Several full-size details of vertical joint anchors show an actual mechanism Yamasaki designed to hold the travertine in place. Similarly, drawings for the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco detail a variety of installation methods designed by Architect Pietro Belluschi in collaboration with the Vermont Marble Company. Details in these drawings show innovations with wire ties, concrete casting behind stone panels, and the use of modern sealants and gaskets in expansion joints.

The demand for efficient installation and the rapid pace of innovation in stone panel technology meant Architects like Belluschi and Yamasaki were responsible for designing the majority of installation methods for much of the 20th Century. By the 1970s, engineers (not architects) began designing and standardizing installation hardware and panel thickness for durability reasons.

The Drever

Formerly the First National Bank Building of Dallas Texas. When the building was opened in 1965 it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi and remained so until 1971. White Marble panels on the exterior of the building are said to be imported from Greece, however "Vermarco" working drawings detailing their installation suggest that the Vermont Marble Company was either a broker for the marble or was at least involved in its installation.

Anchorage Systems

Though the National Association of Marble Producers laid out design standards for Stone panel installation hardware as early as 1960, Architects like Yamasaki and Belluschi continued to make innovative designs for panel installations. Dozens hardware variants can be found in Vermont Marble Company manuals, advertisements, and working drawings. Still more hardware innovations can be found in documents and buildings beyond the Company’s purview. Though the varieties are innumerable, the different panel anchorage systems can be broadly categorized as Kerf, dowel, wire, and clip systems, though in reality most installations are more complex and hybridized.

Exterior Veneer Standards

The Vermont Marble Company’s interpretation of national anchor design standards is best encompassed in the Exterior Veneer Standards manual which details type, installation and load paths as they relate to various anchorage systems.

The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption

Designed by Pietro Belluschi, the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption was completed in 1970. The travertine clad building is an icon of modernist architecture in San Francisco, noted for its materiality, unusual form, and hyperbolic paraboloid roof structure. The Vermont Marble company brokered the travertine and worked with Belluschi to design a range of installation hardware and select appropriate sealants for the building’s complex façade, roof, stairs and railings. Existing Vermont Marble Company working drawings reveal the variety of wire anchors, joints, sealants, and support mechanisms involved in the Cathedral's construction.

Grid Installation

Today, most stone façade systems can be implemented into a grid, allowing a broad surface of interlocking, panelized veneer in the form of a rainscreen. In the late 1960s and early 70s The Vermont marble Company began advertising an installation system called the Individual support and Retention system (ISR.) The ISR system employed a structural grid-work of mechanical fasteners used to support thin stone panels without the need for traditional anchors and mortar. The grid was adaptable to a variety of panel sizes and was adaptable to a variety of substrates. Because the ISR system “individually supported and retained” each panel and did not rely on the load bearing capacity of stone. As such, panels were often cut as thin as 7/8” thick, a dramatic decrease from the 2” thickness of stone cladding at the beginning of the 20th Century. Though no longer in use in its original form, the ISR system was a predecessor to contemporary methods of panel and rainscreen installation.

Individual Support and Retention Manual

The ISR system was developed in 1967 as a way of supporting individual panels of stone on a bearing wall without traditional anchors and mortars. This 1971 manual details the components and installation of the system, which became a standard for the Vermont Marble Company.

Shop Bonded Stone

One of the innovations most proudly advertised by The Vermont Marble Company was “shop bonded” units made from panelized stone. Shop bonding was a method of pre-assembling panelized stone into decorative and structural units that could be shipped and installed onsite. The method eliminated the need for onsite storage of cumbersome stone panels and facilitated cost savings to the contractors who would otherwise assemble such complex forms. Shop bonding was developed in conjunction with the ISR grid system of installation by mechanical fasteners.

Derby City Hall

Originally the Derby savings Bank built in 1976, the City Hall of Derby Connecticut was frequently shown in Vermarco advertising literature as an example how shop bonding was constructed in the warehouse and installed onsite. The building was also used to advertise the benefits of the ISR system.

This page was written by and largely put together by Noah Yoder of the Lithomania Studio.

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