Built of Mud
By A. Hyatt Verrill
Scientific American, August 1930; researched by
Alan Schenker; digitized by Doug Frizzle, March 2012.
WHEN we think of a mud house
we usually visualize a mere hut or shanty, but in many portions of the world, mud, or adobe, is the
principal building material. In the
Orient, in sections of Europe, and particularly in Spanish
America, buildings of adobe construction are the rule rather
than the exception. Quite
pretentious houses and other
edifices are built of mud and, when stuccoed, whitewashed, or gaily painted,
give no hint of the material of
which they are composed.
In no other
part of the world, however, has
adobe construction reached such a state of development and attained to such heights
as in Peru.
Long ages before the Spaniards first
set foot on Peruvian soil, the
Incans and the pre-Incan tribes had
learned the use of mud as a building
material. Enormous walls, great mounds, countless dwellings, vast temples, and
massive forts were built of the
sun-dried mud bricks and blocks, and many of these
still remain, little altered by time and the
elements.
THE Dons followed their example and used the
cheap and easily obtainable adobe in erecting their
buildings. Their palaces, forts, homes,
and churches were made entirely of adobe mud, and through the centuries these
have endured and remain today as imposing and as beautiful as in the days of Pizarro.
It was left to the modern inhabitants of Peru, however, to carry mud adobe
construction to the nth degree and
literally to glorify mud. In and about the
capital, Lima,
is this particularly true. Of course, today, many of the
business buildings, as well as residences, are of concrete or brick, but adobe
still holds its own, and by far the
greater number of Lima's
homes, as well as a large proportion
of its larger edifices, are entirely of mud.
In the
days of the Conquistadors, the adobe bricks were merely piled one upon another to form the
building walls, but today the usual
method is to erect a light wooden framework and build the
adobe upon this. In some cases metal
frameworks have been used in connection with adobe. This method was employed in
erecting the beautiful Rimac Building,
perhaps the most elaborate mud
building in the world. On the other
hand, the world's largest mud
building, the old Lima Cathedral, is built of adobe blocks without
reinforcement of any kind.
Apparently there are no limits to what may be accomplished with mud in Peru. There are charming,
one-storied bungalows with wide verandas, Moorish palaces, imposing colonial
mansions, Elizabethan cottages, Spanish mission homes,
and even turreted castles, all built of the
same sun-dried mud dug from the land on which the
edifice is built. So great is the
demand for adobe that everywhere, round and about Lima, one sees endless piles and high walls
of the mud bricks. At first one
thinks these merely boundary walls
between properties, but it will be noticed that in nearly every case these walls are marked: "Este pared no es
medianera"—"This wall is not a boundary."
Also, wherever there is available mud, one will see the natives industriously engaged in making adobe
bricks.
The mud, dug from any convenient spot, is mixed with sand and
usually with some chopped straw or
dried manure. The resultant pasty mass is then
pressed into wooden forms or frames. The shaped blocks are then removed and placed in the
sun to dry and in a day or two are ready to use.
Brick making is a most economical and inexpensive business for a man of limited
means, or of no means at all. Provided he can secure permission to make use of the land, or a portion of its surface, for brick
making—usually an easy matter, for the
rental is taken out in completed
bricks —the penniless brick-maker
needs little more than his bare hands. With his wife and children, and all his
worldly goods—which usually amount to nothing more than a few battered tins,
and some hand-made stools— he camps
upon the selected site. An ancient
kerosene tin of water and a dilapidated shovel are produced. The dry earth is
trod, dug, stirred, and worked into a thick paste; then
some dry manure, gathered anywhere along the
road, is added, and with all members of the
little family helping, the bricks
begin to take form. As soon as they
dry they are piled in tiers.
In a few days the brick-maker and his family are surrounded by
brick walls and are living quite comfortably
and snugly in a little cavity left purposely for their
accommodation. Here they remain as long as bricks can be made and sold
on the land. And when an adobe
building is in process of erection, the
laborers invariably dwell within recesses in the
piles of accumulated bricks—thus saving house rent—and tramp back and forth to their work.
WHEREVER a Cholo can find a
mud-brick wall and employment, is "Home
Sweet Home" to him, and often
one may find a dozen or more families all dwelling in perfect contentment in their burrows in the
piles of bricks where building is in progress.
In a damp or rainy climate, these dried mud-bricks would, of course, be worse
than useless; and, should Lima
be subjected to a few days of really heavy rains, most of the city and its suburbs would be reduced to the original, elemental mud. Several times within the past few years, various portions of Peru have been
visited by unprecedented rains during the
winter months, and great has been the
havoc wrought. Around and about Trujillo, houses
and churches melted like snow exposed to sunshine, and even the prehistoric ruins of the
Chimu city of Chan Chan,
which has stood unaltered for countless centuries, slumped and dissolved.
To protect buildings from the
drip from the
eaves, practically all modern adobe buildings have several feet of the wall covered with concrete, while others have the
lower portions of the walls built of
stone, or stone and concrete. Even the
old cathedral, which is not only the largest but one of the
finest adobe buildings in the world,
has been safeguarded with a concrete coating about the
base of its walls.
Originally, too, the adobe buildings were all very much alike. They
were massive, thick-walled, square, and usually of moderate height, were
typically Spanish with iron-grilled windows, out-jutting carved cedar miradors,
immense iron-studded and elaborately carved doors, and open patios. But with the modern improvements in adobe constructive
methods, architecture appears to have run wild, and there
is scarcely a type or style of buildings known to any part of the world the
counterpart of which cannot be seen in or about the
Peruvian capital.
Apparently the average Peruvian never has a definite plan in
view when he starts building a house. He may start with a Spanish colonial form
and by the time the first story is complete,
he decides that the English style is
better. He then adds a second story
with exposed timbers, leaded glass windows, and stucco walls. Then to the steeply-pitched roof, he adds Spanish tiles, and
among the chimney-pots erects a
cupola where he can loll away many a hot evening.
HIS front door may be a
graceful Moorish arch, but to put a finishing touch to the
whole he adds the lofty pillars and
severe portico of some Virginia
mansion, and builds a porte cochere in Japanese style. But with all his
architectural failings, he loves color, and so paints his home in brilliant ultramarine, rose-pink,
canary-yellow, or a combination of
all. And, strange as it may seem, these
architectural monstrosities do not strike a discordant note in the scheme of things. Surrounded by glorious flower
gardens and magnificent pines and luxuriant palms, their
bright hues are delightful, and one forgets their
faults in admiration of the masses
of roses and geraniums which clamber over walls and droop from the
eaves.
And there
are countless dwellings which are as charming and as perfect in their architectural features as one could wish.
Truly, the
Peruvians have glorified mud, and by the
same token, they have attained the utmost in building economy,
for what could be more economical
than to build one's home from the
crude material dug from the land when excavating foundations or grading
one's garden?
No comments:
Post a Comment