4/3/2024 0 Comments Concrete block house![]() The house at 1547 Kane Street has banded columns with Ionic capitals and a decorative concrete ball. It also has excellent concrete columns with composite capitals.Īuthor’s photo of 1547 Kane Street on La Crosse’s Northside, 2013 The house at 1416 Gillette Street has scroll designs on the lower blocks but they are deteriorating significantly. The twin houses at 15 Winnebago Street have both been altered somewhat but their original shapes are clear. In La Crosse twin houses at 16 Loomis Street show simple Four-Square style houses using one type of block face on the entire house. Photo courtesy of UW-La Crosse Murphy Library, Special Collections This was one building material that was cheap to create for the DIYer but was expensive in the long run. The problems with these homemade blocks affected the reputation of concrete block in general and it was not until after the Second World War that they regained a positive reputation. Most home manufacturers used a dry mix that was quicker but often crumbled over time. A wetter mix required much longer setting time and the block could not be removed from the machine until firm. ![]() A dry mix of cement, small pebbles and sand with little water did not allow the cement to make a proper bond with the sand and pebbles. While these machines could produce concrete blocks, they had problems. Columns, capitals, and bases required special forms in addition to the block making machines.Ī page from a Sears & Roebuck Company catalog Decorative plates producing rope moldings, curlicues and the Greek key shape were available. The Wizard machine could be ordered with 16 different face plates whereas the Knox machine produced basic designs imitating stone. Of course, there were photos of successful houses, barns, silos, churches and stores constructed of homemade blocks.īoth machines offered different face plates so one side of the block had a pattern. They were advertised as a great way to satisfy your own need for blocks and those of your neighbors. offered two different block making machines, one named the Triumph Wizard and the other the Knox Block Machine. The Wizard concrete block machine, courtesy of Classic Rock Face Blockįor the home DIYer Sears, Roebuck and Co. Entire houses were built of concrete blocks and La Crosse has several examples that remain. In this block form one person could handle it and it was cheaper than natural stone. Today there are dozens of different types of concrete depending on a variety of factors and needs.Ĭlose up of brick block of 432 South 20th Street taken by Anita Doering, 2016īy the late 1800s concrete was being made into brick-like shapes for use in foundations instead of stone. Only after years of testing and usage did we understand how the combination of the three basic materials affected the final product. Early use of concrete was very tentative because its strength and durability were not known. When combined with water, sand and rocks the cement became concrete. ![]() Natural beds of cement were discovered in the United States in the 1850s. Peter's Basilica were constructed, the engineers and architects used a different system and materials from that of concrete. Even during the Renaissance, domes at Florence Cathedral and St. The pantheon in Rome completed by 128 AD, had a concrete dome 142 feet in diameter and a thickness of 15 feet at the base and 4 feet at the oculus, the opening at the top of the dome that lights the interior.Īs the Roman Empire declined, such huge buildings were not needed. Such was the fad for home-made concrete blocks.Īuthor’s photo of 16 Loomis Street on La Crosse’s Northside, 2011Ĭoncrete was first made by the Romans and they created huge interior spaces with no supports to clutter the space. Add to that a new building material that was readily available and inexpensive and you have the basis for a building boom, or at least a “boomlet”. There is a long history of DIY (Do It Yourself) in the United States because of scarcity of some craftsmen and the lack of money to hire a professional. Les Crocker, retired art history professor and architectural historian)
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