This quaint page is a gallery of images of buildings and the stones of which they are built. Each row of the table below is a link to a page with larger-format images and explanatory text.

     In this gallery, you'll find many of the usual stone buildings: for example, castles, churches, and courthouses of sandstone and limestone. However, you'll also find a barn, an aircraft hangar, a gymnasium, and a railroad roundhouse built of stone, and you'll find coal, chert nodules, and calcrete among the stones used.

The purposes of these pages are

1. to remind general observers of the use of geological materials in building;
2. to encourage general observers to look at the stone in buildings they visit;
3. to encourage architects and builders to remember stone as they plan their work; and
4. to acquaint geologists with some of the unexpected uses of geological materials as building stones.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS

Building	Type of Stone	Photo of Building	Photo of stone
Washington Hall, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York, USA	Gneiss
Lumpkin House, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, U.S.A.	Athens Gneiss
Homes in Keswick, in the Lake District Cumbria, England, U.K.	Green Slate
Old store and church, Rockmart, Georgia U.S.A.	Gray slate
Homes, hotels, and towers, in the Mosel Valley, Germany	Slate (and meta-siltstone)
Pfitscherjoch Hütte, Austrian-Italian border, Tirol	Feldspathic granulite gneiss
Matrei Bahnhof (Train Station), Matrei, Tirol, Austria	Gneiss
Graham County Courthouse, Robbinsville, North Carolina, U.S.A.	Quartzite
Old Stone Church, Pickens County, South Carolina, U.S.A.	Metamorphic Rocks
U.S. Post Office, Athens, Georgia, U.S.A.	Marble
Rock Inn, Lake Hughes, California, U.S.A.	Granitic gneisses

---

Building	Type of Stone	Photo of Building	Photo of stone
Venable family Stonehenge Mansion, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.	Stone Mountain Granite
Eagle Store, West Yellowstone, Montana, U.S.A.	Rhyolite and Basalt
Yellowstone T-shirt Company shop West Yellowstone, Montana, U.S.A.	Rhyolitic Breccia
Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, U.S.A.	Red Granite
Recreation Hall, Arco, Idaho, U.S.A.	Vesicular basalt
Commerical building, Loa, Utah, U.S.A.	Basalt and andesite
Auld Building, Elberton, Georgia, U.S.A.	Elberton Granite
Nan Madol, Pohnpei Micronesia	Basalt Columns

---

Building	Type of Stone	Photo of Building	Photo of stone
Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, Yorkshire, England, U.K.	Carboniferous Sandstone
Cliff Dwellings, Mesa Verde National Park Colorado, U.S.A.	Cretaceous Cliff House Sandstone
Stone Cabin, southern Utah, U.S.A.	Mesozoic red sandstone
Buildings in Callendar, Stirlingshire, Scotland, U.K.	Red Devonian Old Red Sandstone
Cawdor Castle, Northern Scotland, U.K.	Brown Devonian Old Red Sandstone
Railroad roundhouse, Como, Colorado, U.S.A.	Late Paleozoic sandstone
An aircraft hangar, Idaho State University Pocatello, Idaho, U.S.A.	Sandstone, (and a few pieces of basalt) (and one chunk of granite)
Almost a whole town: Hot Springs, South Dakota U.S.A.	Lower Cretacous Fall River (Dakota) sandstone

---

Building	Type of Stone	Photo of Building	Photo of stone
Roman Arena, Verona, Italy	Ammonitic Jurassic Limestone
Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia U.S.A.	Mississippian limestone
Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, Indiana U.S.A.	Three Paleozoic limestones from Indiana
Old Stone Mill Decorah, Iowa U.S.A.	Ordovician limestone
St. Mary's, Aldermanbury, in Fulton, Missouri U.S.A.	Jurassic oolitic limestone from Britain
Fort Scott, Kansas, USA	Pennsylvanian algal limestone
The Old Rock School House, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, USA	Ordovician dolostone
Many homes and buildings Beloit, Kansas USA	Cretaceous Greenhorn Limestone
Annaberg Plantation St. John U.S. Virign Islands	Cenzoic (probably Quaternary) Coral
Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.A.	Quaternary coquina
Roman Arena, Arles, Provence, France	Mesozoic limestone
le Tour magne, a Roman tower in Nimes, France	limestone
Tennessee State Supreme Court building, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.	"Tennessee Marble", an Ordovician limestone from eastern Tennessee
Barn in the Flint Hills, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Strong City, Kansas, U.S.A.	Permian limestone

---

Building	Type of Stone	Photo of Building	Photo of stone
Anglican Church, Great Sampford, Essex, England, U.K.	Chert Nodules (Flints)
Private Home, Stow-cum-Quy, Cambridgeshire, England, U.K.	Chert Nodules (Flints)
New Justice Building (Courthouse), Munich, Bavaria, Germany	Tertiary molassic conglomerate
Jakobsdom, (Cathedral of St. Jakob), Innsbruck, Austria	Quaternary Breccia
First Methodist Church, Elberton, Georgia, U.S.A.	Quartz Pebbles
The Coal Palace, Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa, U.S.A.	Pennsylvanian Coal
El Cuartelejo Pueblo, Scott County, Kansas, U.S.A.	Calcrete (caliche)

---

Building	Type of Stone	Photo of Building	Photo of stone
Gasthof Post, Strass, Tirol, Austria	Limestone and slate at a geologic boundary
Dixie Academy, St. George, Utah, U.S.A.	Local basalt and sandstone
Wayne County Court House, Richmond, Indiana, U.S.A.	Indiana limestone and New Hampshire granite
Pfarrkirche, Zell am See, Austria	Granite, limestone, and slate

---

Building	Type of Stone	Photo of Building	Photo of stone
Inverlochy Castle, Fort William, Scotland, U.K.	Lithologic Potpourri
An old service station, Wayne County, Indiana, U.S.A.	Glacially transported potpourri
Chadwick-Munger House, home of the Oceana County Historical Society Hart, Michigan, U.S.A.	Diverse hammered stones from glacial till
Charthouse Restaurant, Savannah Georgia, U.S.A.	Trans-oceanic potpourri

Related links:

A page about The Geology and Building Stones of Burton Bradstock, Dorset, England, UK.
A USGS page on Building Stones of Washington, DC.
British Stone's "Stone List" of building stones in Britain.
The National Stone Institute's page

To Bruce Railsback's main page.