James Taite

James Taite

@jamestaite.bsky.social

Stonemason in Ottawa, Canada.

2.7K followers2K following1.8K posts

James Taite reposted

Lloyd Alter
@lloydalter.bsky.social

It's a new Stone Age in London, with stone apartment buildings and a stone demonstrator exhibit showing how it's done. Because it is silly to grind up limestone, cook it, and then add water to turn it into... stone. We could be doing a lot more of this in Canada- we are made of rock.

lloydalter.substack.comThe Stone Demonstrator shows us how to build for a New Stone AgeWhy grind up rock to make concrete when you can use natural materials like wood and stone?

James Taite reposted

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

And then we have ‘appareil’, another idea of the masonry joint. Cotgrave’s dictionary defines it as a preparation, dressing, trimming. Joints are neither abstractions nor practical exigencies but located in a historical and aesthetic context. Appareil is a characteristic of styles of architecture.

James Taite@jamestaite.bsky.social

Abrevoir speaks of function and method; distinct from this is commissure, an idea of the joint as an abstract relation of parts. Cotgrave’s 1650 dictionary likens it to a “seame in a bone”, The Builders Magazine of 1800 describes it as “the application of the one [stone] to that of the other.”

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

And then we have ‘appareil’, another idea of the masonry joint. Cotgrave’s dictionary defines it as a preparation, dressing, trimming. Joints are neither abstractions nor practical exigencies but located in a historical and aesthetic context. Appareil is a characteristic of styles of architecture.

James Taite@jamestaite.bsky.social

Abrevoir speaks of function and method; distinct from this is commissure, an idea of the joint as an abstract relation of parts. Cotgrave’s 1650 dictionary likens it to a “seame in a bone”, The Builders Magazine of 1800 describes it as “the application of the one [stone] to that of the other.”

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James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

…and uses appareil in the sense that we mean when we talk about ‘bond’, the method of construction, the system of piling stones on top of each other in such a way that they don’t just fall down…

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

…but also asserts that appareil expresses an idea of building and beauty, that joints are arranged to make patterns (particularly in polychromatic stonework) rather than simply be the methodical and rational division of material.

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

And then we have ‘appareil’, another idea of the masonry joint. Cotgrave’s dictionary defines it as a preparation, dressing, trimming. Joints are neither abstractions nor practical exigencies but located in a historical and aesthetic context. Appareil is a characteristic of styles of architecture.

James Taite@jamestaite.bsky.social

Abrevoir speaks of function and method; distinct from this is commissure, an idea of the joint as an abstract relation of parts. Cotgrave’s 1650 dictionary likens it to a “seame in a bone”, The Builders Magazine of 1800 describes it as “the application of the one [stone] to that of the other.”

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

Viollet le Duc talks about origins in the technological limitations of quarrying & transport & hoisting, refers to the properties of stone in general (weight, brittleness, fragility of feathered salients) and of the specific material at hand (available bed heights, ease of working)…

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/jame...

James Taite@jamestaite.bsky.social

Picked up a great book of postcards commemorating the “restoration” of Buckfast Abbey Church after 1906; the 20th century building seems to be a dubious reconstruction of a 12th c monastic structure, emptied in the 16th c dissolution, and lost, even as a ruin, by the early 19th century 🧵

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

here's the gang "Fixing West Front Cross." This one looks staged... at left you can see the crow-stone (the uppermost stone in the gable, upon which the cross will be set) hasn't yet been laid but is elevated on dunnage.

James Taite reposted

Allan T Adams
@allantadams.bsky.social

Replying to @allantadams.bsky.social

The benches in the nave of Holy Trinity were probably installed in the 1886-7 restoration. They have the hinged umbrella holders that were common in parish churches then. There are scars & screws at the base of the bench ends for drip trays for the ends of the umbrellas. #drawing #ArtShare

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social
Vulture@vulture.com

‘Wicker’ stars Alexander Skarsgård as a man made entirely of wicker, complete with a rock-hard wicker dick. But what about splinters? Bacteria? Degradation? Would it be advisable, from a sexual-health perspective, to mount a basket dick? We asked a gynecologist: vulture.visitlink.me/DNQwX5

James Taite reposted

Alexander Clarkson
@aphclarkson.bsky.social

Replying to @aphclarkson.bsky.social

So much of North American history involves Americans saying "we're the empire of liberty" and then saying to Canadians and Mexicans "but not your kind of liberty"

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

Abrevoir speaks of function and method; distinct from this is commissure, an idea of the joint as an abstract relation of parts. Cotgrave’s 1650 dictionary likens it to a “seame in a bone”, The Builders Magazine of 1800 describes it as “the application of the one [stone] to that of the other.”

James Taite@jamestaite.bsky.social

Abbreuvoir, Abrevoir, a nice old name for the joint between stones. A watering place for horses, like a trough? also with the connotation of wound. First is Cotgrave’s French-English Dictionary of 1650, second The Builder's Dictionary of 1734

James Taite reposted

Tom Grey
@tomgrey.bsky.social

Architects in Wonderland Decades ago James Marston Fitch argued that the reuse of existing buildings should be prioritized over the construction of new ones. His thesis, at once simple and radical, is more relevant than ever. placesjournal.org/article/arch...

placesjournal.orgArchitects in WonderlandDecades ago, James Marston Fitch argued that reuse of existing buildings should be prioritized over new construction. His thesis is more relevant than ever.
James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

Abbreuvoir, Abrevoir, a nice old name for the joint between stones. A watering place for horses, like a trough? also with the connotation of wound. First is Cotgrave’s French-English Dictionary of 1650, second The Builder's Dictionary of 1734

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James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

Vital to thoroughly wet the joints before putting a frontpoint mortar in an already built wall. Water is pulled out of the mortar and into the drier stone. The longer the water is retained in the mortar, the longer the chemical process of hydration is sustained, the better the result.

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

The use of 'water joint' (here, from the 1887 American Glossary of Architectural Terms) as a term to describe any joint in masonry makes explicit this idea of the interstice between stones as a wet place. It understands building with stone as a practice, the joint as a functional element.

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

Abbreuvoir, Abrevoir, a nice old name for the joint between stones. A watering place for horses, like a trough? also with the connotation of wound. First is Cotgrave’s French-English Dictionary of 1650, second The Builder's Dictionary of 1734

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

Water should move through the joints, not the stone. The worst deterioration often takes place not where water enters into or travels through, but where water leaves a wall, enabling frost-jacking or depositing cryptoflorescence. A good wall will dry through its joints, which can be repointed.

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

ever wonder if those yeast bubbling in that tub of mash have yeast-scientists get up in their face with “stop fermenting you’re rendering our world unliveable” and the ethanol deniers are just “calm down don’t worry it’s all a hoax” and go back to counting their Big Whisky money

James Taite
@jamestaite.bsky.social

Nepean sandstone, Berea sandstone, Malone sandstone, St. George granite, Stanstead granite you’ve got just about every stone used on the exterior of the West Block here in one pic talk about critical minerals

Mark Carney@mark-carney.bsky.social

Prime Minister Store and I are turning our shared ambition into action — deepening our ties across Arctic security, defence, critical minerals, and more.

James Taite reposted

U. S. Commission of Dark Arts 🧱🗃️
@jgbollard.bsky.social

Not only should engineers study history, more historians should study engineering. Concrete is the second most used material on earth, a huge part of every economy, but there are about 10 english language academic histories of it. Is it really less important than another take on Lincoln? 🗃️

Mike Ross@eruptionchaser.bsky.social

Am I missing something here? In what universe would an engineering student ever study history?! Do many history students study engineering?! I *enjoyed* history at school, and I was *good* at it. But no way would I ever have studied it at university.

James Taite reposted

Dr Tim Meek
@limefinishes.bsky.social

Cromarty on Wednesday; we harled this in 1999 & the owners have kept on top of maintenance, espc the Crowsteps. We looked at the archaeology of harl, thickness, detailing and galetting,& how it folded over the details. Nothing fancy or imaginative, just looking at precedent. Seamless architecture.

James Taite reposted

Mark Walters
@mark-walters.bsky.social

I passed this 1930’s church on Bull Bay Road in Amlwch a few times and just had to take a look. This is the Catholic Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea & St Winefride. It was designed by an Italian architect to look like the upturned hull of a boat reflecting Amlwch’s maritime history.

James Taite reposted

Mémoire2cité
@memoire2cite.bsky.social

Architecture moderne, l'Église Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Rouen, son architecte, Louis Arretche, a voulu renouer avec la tradition de beaucoup de vieilles églises normandes en donnant à l'édifice la forme d'un bateau renversé ... Inscrit Monument Historique.