Brownstone was very popular in New York in the nineteenth century. It was used for trim and for entire facades. It was cheap, it was readily available from more than one nearby quarry, and because it was soft it was easily carved.
It’s also about the worst possible stone for our climate, which is wet with extremes of temperature and with freeze-thaw cycles most days during the winter. The Mariners Temple on Henry Street, above, shows what happens to beautifully-carved brownstone as it ages.
