Five-story brownstones in Harlem, just south of 125th Street, 2004

Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic^{[citation needed]} sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house (rowhouse) clad in this material.

Types[link]

The Barbour County Courthouse (1903-05) in Philippi, West Virginia is faced entirely in Hummelstown brownstone

Apostle Island brownstone[link]

In the 19th century, Basswood Island, Wisconsin, was the site of a quarry run by the Bass Island Brownstone Company which operated from 1868 into the 1890s. The brownstone from this and other Apostle Islands quarries was in great demand, and brownstone from Basswood Island was used in the construction of the first Milwaukee County Courthouse in the 1860s.^[1]

Hummelstown brownstone[link]

Hummelstown brownstone is extremely popular along the East Coast of the United States of America, with numerous government buildings from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Delaware being faced entirely with the stone. The stone comes from the Hummelstown Quarry in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, a small town outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Hummelstown Quarry is the largest provider of brownstone on the east coast. Typically the stone was transported out of Hummelstown through the Brownstone and Middletown Railroad or taken by truck up to the Erie Canal.

Portland brownstone[link]

Portland brownstone is also very popular. The stone from quarries located in Portland, Connecticut and other nearby localities was used in a number of landmark buildings in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, New Haven, Connecticut, and Hartford, Connecticut.

New Jersey brownstone[link]

Quarries from the Passaic Formation in northern New Jersey once supplied most of the brownstone used in New York City and in New Jersey itself. ^[2]

Use in urban private residences[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Brownstone rowhouses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York

There are many brownstones throughout numerous New York City neighborhoods, especially in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Park Slope, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Cobble Hill, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn Heights, and Bedford Stuyvesant, which are collectively referred to as the Brownstone Belt. The Manhattan neighborhood of the Upper West Side, too, retains many brownstones. New York City brownstones are highly desired, and usually cost several million dollars to purchase.

In Chicago, a brownstone typically refers to a free-standing house, originally built for a single family, clad in brownstone. While many Chicago brownstones have subsequently been split into multiple rental or condominium units, many others remain single-family homes. Due to varieties in stone color, some Chicago dwellings are called "graystones".

Due to urban renewal, brownstones are developing in Detroit as well.

Use in colonial country homes[link]

Quaker Mill House in Pennsylvania

Brownstone, also known as freestone due to its durability and advantages as a building material, was used by early Quakers in Pennsylvania to construct stone mills and mill houses. In central Pennsylvania, some 1700s-era structures survive, including one still used as a residence, known as the Quaker Mill House.

See also[link]

• Dimension stone
• Railroad apartment
• Sandstone
• Hummelstown Brownstone Company

References[link]

External links[link]

• Website devoted to the Apostle Island brownstone quarries in Wisconsin.
• Website devoted to the Weser brownstone quarries from Germany being imported into the US.
• Link to Brownstone Supplier Natural Brownstone US and Canada
• "After Fight, a Brooklyn Brownstone's Costly Rescue," The New York Times (March 31, 2010)
• Website devoted to the colonial-era Quaker Mill House in Pennsylvania