Brownstone
a reddish-brown sand-stone popular shortly after the Civil War as a building material. Block after block of the residence section of New York immediately below Central Park is built largely of brown sandstone from the quarries of Connecticut and New Jersey. Under the action of frost it has shown a tendency to split into layers, and is not so popular as formerly. This is the stone to which Holmes refers as evidence of social standing:
Little I ask; my wants are few;
I only wish a hut of stone,
(A very plain brown stone will do,)
That I may call my own;--
And close at hand is such a one,
In yonder street that fronts the sun.
I only wish a hut of stone,
(A very plain brown stone will do,)
That I may call my own;--
And close at hand is such a one,
In yonder street that fronts the sun.
A similar stone of excellent quality is quarried at several points in the vicinity of Lake Superior in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The red color is due to an iron stain. The adoption of steel construction and tiling has done much to diminish the demand for this fine building stone. See Sandstone; Quarry
Volume I · Aiton’s Encyclopedia