As lovers and students of old buildings know, asbestos was a common building material for everything from siding and roofing to the much vilified pipe-insulation.
It’s use started in the late 1800s and its legacy lasted well into the last century. Sure, the material–invented somewhat by accident history has it by the Keasbey & Mattison Company–is the stuff of mesothelioma (the particular kind of cancer over-exposure to it causes and the topic of many-a late night law firm advertisement). But the water that may have passed under the bridge of history is how well it worked. And how beautiful it could be. The roof pictured here is likely a century old. How many new roofs like this do you see going on?
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