concrete architectural detail materials
Apart from concrete block-making activities, Boyd Brothers Company also produced a number of concrete architectural detail pieces. These pieces could be incorporated into concrete block buildings, or used as decorative details on buildings made of other materials. The concrete detail pieces took the form of porch columns; large decorative urns; handrails and posts; cannonbail-shaped finials; quoin blocks; keystones and voussoir blocks; corbel blocks; and a variety of lintel blocks and other odd-shaped blocks for special decorative purposes.
Most of the decorative pieces were made in cast-iron moulds which were purchased as required. Some of the simpler moulds may have been wooden forms made up at the Boyd factory. Glllespie speculates that the “Panel-Face”, usually used as a quoin block, may have been made in a hand-made wooden mould.[1] The factory-made cast-iron moulds were quite expensive and were probably purchased from time to time as needed, or when it was desirable to add a new product to the collection. A 1910 entry in the Boyd journal illustrates the high cost of concrete moulds: [2]
1 large vase mould – $41.90
4 foot veranda column mould – $49.40
Veranda Columns:
The first recorded purchase of a veranda column mould appears to have been in 1910. [3] However, a few of the houses listed as built in 1909 have Doric-type columns, suggesting that the Boyd Company must have had access to a mould before this date. Although the cement columns were available almost from the beginning, a number of the early houses were built using wooden Tuscan-type columns and wooden porch railings. It is possible that the cost of the concrete columns was considerably greater than those made of wood. Wooden columns are found on very few houses after 1912. The Doric-type of concrete column appears on many of the oldest houses in Osgoode (see image on left). It is also the most common style used on the Boyd houses.
Left: Doric style column on house on Main Street, Osgoode, Ontario.
An Ionic-type column (see above and left), also became available, possibly around the same time as the Doric type. However, it does not seem to have enjoyed the same amount of popularity as the Doric-type in the village of Osgoode. Columns were used as single supporting piers, or in groups of two, and commonly in groups of three (as on the left).
Both styles of columns appear to have been fashionable from 1910 through to the mid-1920s. After that time, the columns began to decline in popularity as architecture moved away from styles that depended on classical detailing.
Above and left: Triple grouping of Ionic style columns on house on Prescott Street in Kemptville, Ontario.
Panel-Face Blocks:
Ann Gillespie has suggested that the Panel-Face block, used principally as a Quoin block, was produced in a hand-made wooden mould.[4] These blocks were popular mainly tn the early years of the “imitation stone” blocks when they complemented the “Rock-Face” blocks by providing a strong contrast of smooth next to rough-hewn block.
Corbels:
The company produced at least two sizes of corbel blocks. These were incorporated into the masonry of the block houses to support the roof beams of porches, or to support the wooden brackets under the eaves of Craftsman-style roofs (see image above and on left).
Corbel blocks supporting roof brackets on house at corner of Main Street and Nixon Drive in the village of Osgoode.
Handrails. Posts and Finials:
Veranda handrails and shaped support posts were available from an early date, and are found on Harry Boyd’s house built in 1910 (see above). Railings, posts and veranda columns were occasionally used on houses built from materials other than Boyd blocks. They provide an interesting contrast to other types of materials such as brick or natural stone. A cannonball-shaped finial was also made by Boyds and is sometimes seen on porch rails or on sections of buildings where unusual emphasis was desired (see below).
Lintels and Decorative Mouldings:
A variety of types and sizes of concrete lintels were made by Boyd Brothers Company over the years. Lintel blocks were produced for their own buildings, and for sale to those working with concrete blocks. But, they were also purchased by builders for use in brick or stone buildings. The company’s job list contains several entries for “trim” for churches which are still standing in many area towns.
Decorative mouldings and odd-shaped blocks were also made for special purposes, such as those incorporated into the front facade of the Orange Hall on Lion Street in Osgoode (see above).
Keystones and Voussoir Blocks:
An interesting style of door surround began to be made by Boyds, probably some time near the end of the 1930s or at the beginning of the 1940s.[5] The surround consisted of a very large rustic keystone with voussoir blocks which provided a slight arch over doorways. The sides of the surrounds had alternating short and long blocks which were colour-contrasted to the masonry of the waits. The door surround is similar to the Gibbs-surround due to its rustication and tonal contrast to the walls of the building. This type of door surround seems to have been used mainly on Tudor Revival type houses, or on small buildings such as the cemetery vault at Kars (above), where special emphasis was desired on a doorway.
Footnotes:
1. Ann Gillespie. “Early Development of the Artistic Concrete Block”,
APT Bulletin, Vol. XI, No. 2 (1979), p. 52. n.b. 45.
2. PAC File: MG 26. III. 71. Vol. 1.5. — EXPENSES — entry for 1910.
3. ibid.
4. Gillesple, p. 52. n.b. 45.
5. The keystone and voussoir door surround blocks appear to have been used almost exclusively on “broken ashlar pattern” buildings, in dating the introduction as late 1930s or early 1940s, I suggest that this style of surround may not have been in use by the date of the construction of the Tudor-Revival house at 5494 Main Street in Osgoode. It is a house which is extremely ornate, making use of leaded windows, etc… If the keystone-type door surround was available at the time of its building, it seems likely that it would have been used. The surround does appear on another Osgoode house, a bungalow at 3243 Borden Street. The surround was used as recently as 1951 on a cemetery vault built at St. Andrew Church in Kars — built by Harry Boyd in memory of his wife, Philomena Currie.