Frieze Cornice - Viola, IL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 41° 12.185 W 090° 35.153
15T E 702414 N 4564111
Iron was used as decoration and strength when stone and wood were hard to get.
Waymark Code: WMX52Y
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 11/28/2017
Views: 1
County of frieze: Mercer County
Location of frieze: 17th Ave., and 14th St., Viola
"As we built America from our huge reserves of virgin wood, we craved what Europe had and we didn't -- not iron, but elegant masonry. First we carved those classical stone forms from wood.
"Then, in 1828, a Philadelphia architect, John Haviland, was designing the Miners' Bank in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. There was no local quarry for stone, so he decided to cast an iron facade in the shape of stone columns and cornices.
"In 1848 John Bogardus began doing the same thing in downtown New York on a much larger scale. He also prefabricated and shipped iron facing all over America. For the next 50 years we made thousands of iron buildings.
"A cast iron wall with a wide window space in it was still strong. So these new buildings admitted more light. And, if we could cast simple classical columns, why stop there! Iron facings took on wild Classical elegance. And we learned how to make load-bearing walls from iron as well." ~ The Engines of Our Ingenuity/Iron Buildings