Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/731

* BUILDING LOANS. 649 BUILDING-STONE. secured l)y a mortgage on the property in ques- tion to cover the future advances on the loan, which are made in stated installment-s as the building progresses. Such loans are usually somewhat precarious investments, because of the danger that Uie builder may not be able to complete the structure, in which case the incom- pleted building usually cannot be sold for what it cost, and the mortgagee is forced to foreclose the mortgage, buy in the property, and complete the building, in order to protect himself. Build- ing loans, tlierefore. bear a higher rate of inter- est than is usual in loans on real-estate security. Many States have provisions for the filing of such contracts in some office of public record, as well as for recording the mortgages, regulat- ing their priority with reference to other liens, as judgments and mechanics' liens (q.v.). Such loans are usually paid ofl' when the building is completed, because of the high rate of interest, the money being obtained on a 'permanent loan' (that is, a loan for a definite number of years) at a lower rate of interest. Building loans of this description have become very common in recent years, especially in large cities. The term is also applied to loans by building and loan associations dj.v. i. BUILDING OF THE SHIP, The. A poem by H. V. Longfellow (1849). BUILDINGS, Fireproof. See Fieeproof CoNSTKrCTIOX. BUILDING SOCIETIES. See Building Axn I.OAX Associations. BUILDING-STONE. A stone suitable for structural engineering and architectural pur- poses. To be suitable for these purposes, stone should be durable and of a go<Ml and permanent color, should have strength and toughness, and, finally, should be inexpensive to quarry and work. The majority of the best building-stones belong to one or the other of the following gen- eral classes of rocks: (1) Crystalline siliceous rocks, of which granite is the most familiar example; (2) calcareous rocks, to which belong limestones and marbles; and (3) fragmentary rocks, in which class sandstones and. slates are included. Gr.^xite. Of the crystalline siliceous rocks, granite (q.v.) is undoubtedly the best known and most deservedly popular as a building- stone. Commercially, this term granite is ap- plied to all igneous and metaniorphic rocks (see Igneous Rocks; ilETAMoRPUic Rocks); but still the use of true granites predominates. They, together with syenites, include the strong- est of building-stones, ranging in crushing strength from 25,000 to 30,000 pounds per square inch or more. They are very resistant to frost action, and are conmionly permanent in color. Until comparatively rtcent times, on account of its great hardness, granite was employed almost wholly for massive masonry, since it could be used there with a comparatively rough dress- ing; but with modern improved stone-cutting and dressing machinery, it is now turned and i-arved into columns, pilasters, et«., and polished with the utmost perfectness. In all times, how- ever, granite has been one of the most popular of building-stones. The red granite of Syene, Egypt, was fashioned bj- the ancient Egj'ptians into obelisks, sarcophagi, and colossal statues, and employed by them in building their temples. pyramids, and palaces. The Egyptian granite was red in color. Modern granites range in color from nearly white to dark gray, and from a delicate pink to a deep red. The average weight of granite is about IGC'/i pounds per cubic foot, and its crushing strength is from 0000 pounds to 20,000 pounds per square inch. SuiUible granite for building purposes is found widely distributed. The Scotch granites are the coarse red from Peterhead and the gray from Aberdeen. It is of the latter stone that the city of Aberdeen is largely built. Scotch granite is quite largely imported to the United States for monimiental work. Both gray and red granite aie qiuirried in Canada, stone of one or both colors occurring in British Colum- bia, near Victoria: in Quebec, in many localities around the Lakes at the heads of the Saint Fran- cis and Jlegantic rivers; in Ontario, near King- ston: in Xew Brunswick, near Saint George; and in Xova Scotia, near Shell)unic. The prin- cipal English granite is perhaps that from West- moreland County. In the United States, granite is quarried in practically every State bordering on the Appala- chian ^fountain Range, and in California. Colo- rado, ^Montana. Wyoming. Wisconsin, and Mis- souri. The greatest supply of granite in this country comes from JIaine and Massachusetts. The Maine granites are mostly foind in shades of gray, but there are a number of pink and red granites quarried. In ilassachusetts. the dark blue-gray granites quarried in the vicinity of Quincy are the best known. Other noted gran- ites come from Concord, X. H., Westerly, R. I., Richmond. Va., Iron County, Mo., Barre, Vt., and Saint Cloud, Minn. Besides granite, the crystal- line siliceous rocks include porphyry, syenite, gneiss, and trap. Porphyry makes a very hand- some building-stone, showing large crystals im- bedded in an amorphous ground-mass, the crys- tals usually being of a contrasting color to the ground-mass, and these colors ranging through the shades of pink, gray, red, white, and black. Porphyry is so extremely hard that no com- mercial means have been found for cutting and polishing it, but it is used to some extent in rough construction. JIassachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and North Carolina contain fine beds of unusually beauti- ful porphyry. Syenites difler from granite in containing no quartz. They are found in con- siderable quantities in the United States, and make a very handsome stone, but so far they have not been quarried to any extent. Gneiss is a rock much resembling granite in composi- tion, but is unlike granite in having well-de- fined planes of cleavage, which allow the rock to be split into thick slabs. Trap includes a number of crystalline siliceous rocks, generally sombre in hue and very difficult to work. Ex- cept as crushed for making concrete or road material, or when cut into paving-bloeks, trap is seldom used for constru<tion purposes. A dark- colored trap commercially known as "black gran- ite' is quarried near Duluth. Minn.: at Keese- ville, N. Y. ; Vergennes, Vt. : on the ilaine coast; and at some other points, and is exten- sively used for tombstones. Limestone. Limestone consists of carbonate of lime and some impurity which gives the stone its color, these colors ranging through various shades of blue, green, yellow, pink, red, and