Architectural Monel: Modernism, Counter-Modernism, and the "Aesthetic of Patina"
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-020-04355-6 Ó 2020 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
Architectural Monel: Modernism, Counter-Modernism, and the “Aesthetic of Patina” Patina” James E. Churchill This photograph shows corrosion on likely patinated Monel on the undercroft stairs at Bryn Athyn Cathedral in Pennsylvania. (Photo taken by James E. Churchill.)
Introduction
Monel and Sudbury
Monel 400 is rapidly vanishing from the architectural canon of decorative metals. A silvery alloy of approximately two-thirds nickel and one-third copper, it was fashioned into the epitome of modern American design after its founding in 1905 by metallurgist and, later, president of the International Nickel Company, Robert C. Stanley. Within three decades, however, LWV¿UVWPRYHUDGYDQWDJHZDVHURGHG while internally a management shift saw investment into new-fangled alloys in the chase to space. By the late 1940s, Monel began to settle into its new role of specialized anonymity.
Discovered after research by a trio of International Nickel Company metallurgists, the alloy was reduced by Stanley in an attempt to bypass expensive UH¿QLQJPHWKRGVWRPDNHQLFNHOVLOYHU1 The 2.3:1 nickel to copper ore content that GH¿QHGWKHDOOR\KDGFRPHQDWXUDOO\IURP the Creighton mine of Sudbury, Ontario. This vast open pit dominated production for the company from 1901-1920 due to its rich QLFNHOUDWLR5H¿QHGZLWKRXWWKHH[SHQVLYH need for elemental separation, its properties yielded many attractive potential uses.
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James E. Churchill
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Present Day Writers point to the high cost and restricted supply of nickel during the war for the proverbial downfall of the alloy, but the reasoning appears more convoluted and includes an inherent coloring issue that the company ignored, or was not aware of, until it was too late. Today, Monel is all but forgotten by the American architect. A lack of guidance from the conservation authority, the National Park Service, results in a hodge-podge of treatment that favors the preservation of “patina,” or more accurately, weathering, which may sustain damage, and yields an entirely GL൵HUHQWGHVLJQDHVWKHWLF
Early Years Monel’s discovery was fortuitous. Born into an insatiable arming campaign as World War I inched closer, the alloy was recognized for acid and alkali resistance, performance in seawater, and impressive strength. Initially, demand remained VXEGXHGGXHWRGL൶FXOWZRUNDELOLW\DQG forced the opening of in-house casting, but early gains dramatically shrunk after the disarmament treaties of 1919.2 Stanley, the devoted parent, recognized the need to H[SORUHQHZPDUNHWV%XLOGLQJDUH¿QLQJ factory in West Virginia, he invested VLJQL¿FDQWVXPVLQUHVHDUFKDQGPDUNHWLQJ %\ 0RQHOSURGXFWVKDGGLYHUVL¿HG LQWRGL൵HUHQWLQG
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