Stains on Memorial Give Variety in Tone

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 5566, 3 February 1931, Page 6

Stains on Memorial Give Variety in Tone

WELCOMED BY ARCHITECTS. The appearance of green stains on the white marble of tho Soldiers’ Memorial in the Palmerston city Square has been at times adversely, commented upon but it is for tho uniatiated to learn that this discolouration, which conics from the surmounting bronze work, is welcomed by architects on the ground that it gives variety in tone and texture. According to an authority in many of the world’s architectural masterpieces an appreciable part of their charm is definitely duo to their age. The action of Iho weather on stonework emphasises slight variations in the tone and texture of the individual stones, thereby adding liveliness and interest to the general effect. It is for this reason that plastered buildings are often joint lined, and the plaster varied in tone to represent stonework. In newly-con-st.ructcd marble surfaces there is very little variation in tho tone of the individual stones; but with time and the action of the weather, these variations begin to appear and give that added charm which is a wcll-rccogniscd feature of old stonework. The stains from any surmounting bronze work, due to the action of the atmosphere on the bronze surface, are washed down over tho stonework, tinting (lie stones hero and there, and darkening some of the joints, so adding variety and relief to tho general surface. Architects certainly do not view these stains with alarm, but rather welcome them to give that added charm of variety in tone and texture which otherwise would only develop gradually over a considerable period of time. The stains arc strongest immediately below the bronze work, and gradually taper off and disappear in the general tone of the marble, thus uniting tho surmounting bronze group to its marble base in a way which could not otherwise bo achieved.