{"id":12303,"date":"2018-06-20T13:17:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T17:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=12303"},"modified":"2018-06-20T13:27:48","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T17:27:48","slug":"fake-facades-the-polyester-of-brick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2018\/06\/fake-facades-the-polyester-of-brick\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake Fa\u00e7ades: “The Polyester of Brick”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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16th and Vine Streets, northwest corner, 1964 (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf you enjoy the finer things of life, good cheer and good times in a beautiful atmosphere\u2014if you take pride in your home\u2014the FormStone club room is for you,\u201d read an advertisement in December 1949. \u201cThat \u2018lost\u2019 space in your cellar can become the loveliest room you ever saw, with a FormStone beauty treatment. A major home improvement that enlarges your home, increases its value and helps make home life beautiful. A club room or recreation room for adults, a playroom for the children, a television setting par excellence. Hand-sculptured by skilled craftsmen, in any design, with an special effects to suit your taste, arches, pilasters, bars, etc. Architectural ideas and estimate without charge or obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFormStone is Foremost,\u201d read another pitch a few months later. \u201cIt\u2019s in a class by itself. Your FormStone Home is a work of art, every inch hand sculptured painstakingly by master-craftsmen. Guaranteed 20 years, it will actually last a lifetime. FormStone \u00a0is America\u2019s favorite home beauty treatment\u2026nationally proven\u2026 highly endorsed by more than 3,000 homeowners during the past 15 years. It\u2019s the natural stone, carefully selected for color and durability, compounded with finest grade cement. FormStone improves with age! It mellows with weathering, remains forever beautiful, rugged, weatherproof\u2026and insulating. Economical, too\u2014initial cost is modest, and it\u2019s the last; no upkeep, no repair, no painting. Applied over any surface, anywhere, exterior or interior\u2014over shingles, weatherboard, brick, stucco, concrete or cinder block. \u2026 Your home deserves FormStone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fake stone, or “simulated masonry\u201d as preservation expert Ann Milkovich McKee calls it, \u201cplayed a large role in the changing aesthetics of the American public begin\u00adning in the 1930s.\u201d Perma-Stone, the earliest and best known \u201cof the simulated masonries that could be applied directly to a building\u201d originated in Columbus, Ohio in 1929. Other brands, we learn from The Old House Journal<\/em>, \u201cincluded Rostone, Tru-Stone, Fieldstone, Bermuda Stone, Modern Stone, Romanstone, Magnolia Stone, Dixie Stone, Silverstone.\u201d And there was FormStone. Each \u201cwas applied in a manner similar to stucco, usually in multiple layers, to wire net or lath attached to existing exterior walls, then scored with simulated mortar joints to suggest individual stones. Adding to the illusion were often artful coloration and sometimes mica chips that would sparkle on a sunny day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cForm-Stone, is a man-made stone, a hand-sculpted, modern surface for building new homes or renewing old homes,\u201d read the earliest Philadelphia advertisement from March 1947, a decade after Baltimorean Albert Knight patented the process. By then, it had been \u201ctried and proven\u201d by more than a thousand customers in the Baltimore-Washington area. Testimonials aimed to convince Philadelphians: \u201cWe are even more proud of our FormStone than we were the day it was finished,\u201d said Joseph Biles. \u201cIt has lived up to expectations in every way. In fact, we are sure that it is becoming more beautiful with each passing year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were tired of worrying about regular repainting, of moisture penetration and dampness,\u201d said a Mrs. Lake. \u201cWe wanted something permanent, something that would make your home beautiful and keep it that way. Formstone did just that for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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1328 Walnut Street. October 27, 1949. (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I can safely say that you have added at least twice the value of the improvements to the full value of my house\u201d claimed Major Robb.<\/p>\n

A self-described \u201cchoosy\u201d restaurant owner declared he \u201cselected FormStone to beautify [his] place. Only FormStone could give me exactly what I wanted: in design, color and effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted a fa\u00e7ade with dignity and beauty and we got it in FormStone,\u201d said a pharmacist, adding the benefit of \u201ceverlasting weather protection and freedom from repairs.\u201d A tavern owner considered \u201cit one of the best deals I ever made.\u201d And a car dealer claimed \u201cit has actually attracted customers to our establishment. In the thirty three years we\u2019ve been in business, we consider this the finest improvement made to our property\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201clast word in lasting beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Undertakers, 809 South 9th Street, March 19, 1954. (PhillyHistory,org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Americans carried on their love affair with fake fa\u00e7ades until the waning decades of the 20th century. About then, John Waters of Pink Flamingo<\/em> and Hairspray<\/em> fame (never one to miss a trend in popular culture) produced a 30-minute video Little Castles: A Formstone Phenomenon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a 1998 documentary, Waters provided a nickname for the popular, pastel, sometimes sparkly fa\u00e7ade cement long loved by Baltimoreans and Philadelphians alike:<\/p>\n

He dubbed FormStone “the polyester of brick.”<\/p>\n

[Sources: Advertisements from the Inquirer<\/em>: March 23, 1947; December 4 1949; March 19, 1950 and March 26, 1950; Ann Milkovich McKee, \u201cStonewalling America Simulated Stone Products,” in Cultural Resource Management: Preserving the Recent Past<\/em> (The National Park Service, 1995) vol. 18. no. 8; \u00a0and Paul K. Williams, “The Faux Stone Follies,”\u00a0Old House Online<\/em>, June 2003.]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you enjoy the finer things of life, good cheer and good times in a beautiful atmosphere\u2014if you take pride in your home\u2014the FormStone club room is for you,\u201d read an advertisement in December 1949. \u201cThat \u2018lost\u2019 space in your cellar can become the loveliest room you ever saw, with a FormStone beauty treatment. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}