ORNAMENTAL SHEET-METAL IN THE UNITED-STATES, 1870-1930

This is a brief history of the ornamental sheet metal industry in the United States in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries . Sheet metal was used for such practical purposes as roofing, gutteri ng and drain pipes, and had some fine arts applications such as sheet metal statuary. The focus here, however, is on the use of ornamental m etal for cornices, building fronts, and exterior and interior cladding . Today, while examples of the architectural use of ornamental sheet m etal are widespread, there is little modern scholarship on the subject . This study is based on a review of building periodicals of the perio d, on the examination of trade catalogues promoting the industry, on i nterviews with men who remember the trade, and on documentation of bui ldings where the material was used. While giving a historical overview of the rise, development and decline of the use of ornamental sheet m etal, the author also analyzes reasons for the popularity of the mater ial despite a negative reputation among the mainstream architectural e lite. An analysis of rhetoric in the so-called ''servile imitation'' d ebate over the appropriateness of the imitative nature of sheet metal reveals turn-of-the-century attitudes about new industrial materials t hat transformed building practices in the period.