BENEDICT STONE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 243, 4 January 1928, Page 1

BENEDICT STONE

ECONOMICAL BUILDING : POPULAR IN AMERICA ! Benedict stone, a precast’ building stone, which is a concrete product, will make its appearance in Australia, and probably New Zealand, very shortly. The man who will show Australia how it is manufactured is Mr. B. Moorhouse, a passenger who arrived on the Niagara. He is direct from the head office of the manufacturers of Benedict stone in America. There is a chain of factories throughout the States, and the company has been in operation now successfully for 18 years. Mr. Moorhouse said that Benedict stone has supplanted natural stone in America, chiefly because it is more economical and because its lends itself so easily for building purposes. It can be made in all types and textures and is very durable. One of the favourite types is that which is coloured and used for Byzantine architecture. Benedict stone will withstand earthquake shocks because it is reinforced. Despite the fact that it has to be manufactured, he thinks that even in New Zealand he could put it on the market at a cheaper rate than natural I stone. To prove this he says that in some parts of America there are now factories manufacturing Benedict stone which are in the centre of the natural stone quarry areas. In New York the Hotel Ambassador, Zeigfeld’s biggest theatre, and several other large buildings, are all made of Benedict stone. Throughout the United States other large buildings are being made of it, and the stone is much j in demand by builders and architects, j