They had roofs, then
©Thomas Wilson Shawcross 28 May 1999
Some fossils can be used to identify the age of the rock strata that contain them, because the creatures that became the fossils lived only during a specific geological time period. In like manner, American architecture has its identifying styles - unique characteristics that are born, flourish, and die within a certain decade or so – that can be used to identify the age of the structures that contain those styles.
An example of such an architectural fossil is the metal-sheathed quonset hut that spread across the American landscape in the post-World-War-II years. Relatively cheap and quick to construct, these half-cylinder buildings were widely used for military and civilian purposes. They appeared to be made by fastening long, covering sheets of galvanized steel to a curved frame. The visual effect was of a giant tin can that has fallen on its side and then sunk halfway into the earth. Quite popular for a while, it seems these buildings are no longer being made, but aging examples can still be found across the US. To me, they are the architectural fossils that mark the time period of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.
Another marker for that time period is the glass-block window. Our family home in Olney, Illinois had such a window. Thick glass blocks surrounded the large window that was located in the living room. The blocks were as thick as the exterior walls of the house, and they measured about six inches square. They were joined together by layers of cement, as if they were bricks. I suppose they were considered a cost-effective means of allowing additional light to enter the room, while still using a relatively small glass window. Later, larger windows (we called them picture windows) were used, and glass block borders disappeared. I was glad of that, as I found them frustrating. The surfaces of the glass blocks were wavy, not smooth, and the light that entered through them was of the distorted, fun-house-mirror sort. Since I was only two years old when we lived in Olney, and therefore rather short, my only clear view of the outside world was limited to the sky and neighboring rooftops. Our front yard could be seen (from my vantage point) only through the wavy glass blocks, so it was a blur, yielding only vague clues such as green, swaying movement when the wind was blowing and the grass was tall and overdue for a mowing. I developed a dislike for those glass blocks that prevented me from seeing the world outside, and it pains me to note that they seem to be making an architectural comeback. My local Home Depot store has erected a sales display of different types of wavy glass blocks. They are even being made in colors now! This reminds me of the warning, “those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.”
The 1950’s brought its own share of time-specific fossils, such as boomerang-formica dinette tables, and tan-colored brick buildings. The 1960’s may be remembered for The Beatles and for the “bloated arrow” business sign.
In the 1960’s in St. Louis, a sudden proliferation of oddly shaped signs began popping up outside small businesses. The translucent plastic signs were lit up from the inside. The name of the business establishment was emblazoned on each side of the sign, which could be read by motorists passing from either direction. Never looking too closely at the signs, (I considered them vaguely as “bad art”) I thought them to be ads for shoe repair shops or shoe stores, as the signs appeared to be in the shape of a Dutch wooden shoe. One day, it occurred to me that there were an awful lot of shoe stores in St. Louis, and I looked more closely at one of the signs. That particular sign was mounted over the entrance to a dry cleaning establishment!
“Why the wooden shoe?” I wondered. Then it dawned on me that the sign did not represent a wooden shoe. Instead, it was a fat, bloated arrow that was intended to point out the business that was located beneath the sign. All kinds of businesses bought this sign. For a while, they were all over St. Louis. I figure the salesman of these signs retired a millionaire. Maybe he retired in Amsterdam and is comfortably padding around in his tulip garden, wearing wooden shoes. Only a few of these signs remain today. I don’t know if the signs failed or the businesses did.
This week, while driving on Douglas Street in Sioux City, Iowa, I saw what might be the most time-specific architectural fossil of all – the decorated shingle roof. I was trying to locate the English Mansion Bed and Breakfast hotel, for which I had the address. Looking for a number on a large house on the left, I suddenly noticed that the roof of the house was decorated with a huge geometric pattern made of differently colored shingles. Each individual shingle was one solid color, and the roofer/artist had laid down a pattern of gray shingles with red ones and yellow ones and black ones and blue ones, (and maybe some other colors that my partially color-blind eyes can’t see) to make a distinctive geometric pattern that covered the entire roof. The pattern looked like a diamond design that might have been copied from a Navajo blanket. I had never seen any roof like that. Then, a couple of houses farther away, I saw the English Mansion, and it had a roof decorated in a similar manner!
As far as I know, there are only two houses in Sioux City (or anywhere else on our planet) with roofs like that. The shingles appear to be old. Surely they were the work of the same artist. Architectural fossils of the "they had roofs, then" era.
TWS note: I have learned that the Quonset-shaped metal buildings are called Nissen huts, They were invented by Canadian Army engineer P. N. Nissen, b. 1871. A pre-fabricated shelter of corrugated metal shaped like a cylinder cut vertically in two and resting on its flat surface, it was first used by the British Army in WW II.
A typical WW II - vintage Nissen Hut
A prefabricated structure of a steel frame clad in corrugated iron. Semi-circular in section they were used as accommodation for the armed forces and, during WWII, as emergency housing for bombed out civilians. Also used for storage.
Some fossils can be used to identify the age of the rock strata that contain them, because the creatures that became the fossils lived only during a specific geological time period. In like manner, American architecture has its identifying styles - unique characteristics that are born, flourish, and die within a certain decade or so – that can be used to identify the age of the structures that contain those styles.
An example of such an architectural fossil is the metal-sheathed quonset hut that spread across the American landscape in the post-World-War-II years. Relatively cheap and quick to construct, these half-cylinder buildings were widely used for military and civilian purposes. They appeared to be made by fastening long, covering sheets of galvanized steel to a curved frame. The visual effect was of a giant tin can that has fallen on its side and then sunk halfway into the earth. Quite popular for a while, it seems these buildings are no longer being made, but aging examples can still be found across the US. To me, they are the architectural fossils that mark the time period of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s.
Another marker for that time period is the glass-block window. Our family home in Olney, Illinois had such a window. Thick glass blocks surrounded the large window that was located in the living room. The blocks were as thick as the exterior walls of the house, and they measured about six inches square. They were joined together by layers of cement, as if they were bricks. I suppose they were considered a cost-effective means of allowing additional light to enter the room, while still using a relatively small glass window. Later, larger windows (we called them picture windows) were used, and glass block borders disappeared. I was glad of that, as I found them frustrating. The surfaces of the glass blocks were wavy, not smooth, and the light that entered through them was of the distorted, fun-house-mirror sort. Since I was only two years old when we lived in Olney, and therefore rather short, my only clear view of the outside world was limited to the sky and neighboring rooftops. Our front yard could be seen (from my vantage point) only through the wavy glass blocks, so it was a blur, yielding only vague clues such as green, swaying movement when the wind was blowing and the grass was tall and overdue for a mowing. I developed a dislike for those glass blocks that prevented me from seeing the world outside, and it pains me to note that they seem to be making an architectural comeback. My local Home Depot store has erected a sales display of different types of wavy glass blocks. They are even being made in colors now! This reminds me of the warning, “those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.”
The 1950’s brought its own share of time-specific fossils, such as boomerang-formica dinette tables, and tan-colored brick buildings. The 1960’s may be remembered for The Beatles and for the “bloated arrow” business sign.
In the 1960’s in St. Louis, a sudden proliferation of oddly shaped signs began popping up outside small businesses. The translucent plastic signs were lit up from the inside. The name of the business establishment was emblazoned on each side of the sign, which could be read by motorists passing from either direction. Never looking too closely at the signs, (I considered them vaguely as “bad art”) I thought them to be ads for shoe repair shops or shoe stores, as the signs appeared to be in the shape of a Dutch wooden shoe. One day, it occurred to me that there were an awful lot of shoe stores in St. Louis, and I looked more closely at one of the signs. That particular sign was mounted over the entrance to a dry cleaning establishment!
“Why the wooden shoe?” I wondered. Then it dawned on me that the sign did not represent a wooden shoe. Instead, it was a fat, bloated arrow that was intended to point out the business that was located beneath the sign. All kinds of businesses bought this sign. For a while, they were all over St. Louis. I figure the salesman of these signs retired a millionaire. Maybe he retired in Amsterdam and is comfortably padding around in his tulip garden, wearing wooden shoes. Only a few of these signs remain today. I don’t know if the signs failed or the businesses did.
This week, while driving on Douglas Street in Sioux City, Iowa, I saw what might be the most time-specific architectural fossil of all – the decorated shingle roof. I was trying to locate the English Mansion Bed and Breakfast hotel, for which I had the address. Looking for a number on a large house on the left, I suddenly noticed that the roof of the house was decorated with a huge geometric pattern made of differently colored shingles. Each individual shingle was one solid color, and the roofer/artist had laid down a pattern of gray shingles with red ones and yellow ones and black ones and blue ones, (and maybe some other colors that my partially color-blind eyes can’t see) to make a distinctive geometric pattern that covered the entire roof. The pattern looked like a diamond design that might have been copied from a Navajo blanket. I had never seen any roof like that. Then, a couple of houses farther away, I saw the English Mansion, and it had a roof decorated in a similar manner!
As far as I know, there are only two houses in Sioux City (or anywhere else on our planet) with roofs like that. The shingles appear to be old. Surely they were the work of the same artist. Architectural fossils of the "they had roofs, then" era.
TWS note: I have learned that the Quonset-shaped metal buildings are called Nissen huts, They were invented by Canadian Army engineer P. N. Nissen, b. 1871. A pre-fabricated shelter of corrugated metal shaped like a cylinder cut vertically in two and resting on its flat surface, it was first used by the British Army in WW II.
A typical WW II - vintage Nissen Hut
A prefabricated structure of a steel frame clad in corrugated iron. Semi-circular in section they were used as accommodation for the armed forces and, during WWII, as emergency housing for bombed out civilians. Also used for storage.
posted by Tom Shawcross | 6:37 PM
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