WHAT IS OCALA BLOCK? By MAANVI CHAWLA A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2018 © 2018 Maanvi Chawla To my parents, Neeta and Anil Chawla, and to the quirky, enchanting State of Florida. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the people of Florida for being so warm, receptive and enthusiastic as I made my way through the research for this thesis. I specially want to thank my Chair and Advisor, Marty Hylton, for introducing me to this topic as and when I expressed a desire to research on building materials. I would like to thank my Committee’s Special Member, Dr. Matthew Smith, for always being supportive, answering all my queries and for opening the doors of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Florida for me to conduct research. Special thanks to Dr. Norman Weiss, who gladly offered his expertise and valuable support especially through the tough initial phases of this thesis. I am thankful to Integrated Conservation Resources, Inc. for their generosity in letting me access their facilities for my research. Lastly, I would like to thank the helpful experts from the fields of architecture, history and materials conservation for their support and the innumerable resource people who came forward to engage on trivia and conversation surrounding Ocala block in Florida. I would like to acknowledge the immense amount of support and love given to me by my parents, Neeta and Anil Chawla, and by my sister, Meetali Bedi and her family. A special thank you to Vaibhav Vishen for always being at the receiving end of my ramble about Ocala block. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 13 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 16 Research Question: What is Ocala block? .............................................................. 16 Scope...................................................................................................................... 19 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 21 2 CONTEXTUAL INVESTIGATION ........................................................................... 24 Ocala, Marion County ............................................................................................. 24 Ocala, The City ................................................................................................. 24 Mining History ................................................................................................... 29 Brick City Heritage ............................................................................................ 36 Concrete Block in the United States ....................................................................... 37 Concrete Block of the 20th Century ................................................................... 39 Frank Lloyd Wright and the Concrete Block ..................................................... 44 The Concept Of ‘Self-Building’ ......................................................................... 50 Concrete Block in Florida ........................................................................................ 51 Coquina Concrete Block of St. Augustine in the 1920s .................................... 57 Concrete Block Among Architects in Florida .................................................... 59 Frank Lloyd Wright in Florida .................................................................................. 61 Florida Southern College, Lakeland ................................................................. 62 Spring House, Tallahassee .............................................................................. 69 The Sarasota School of Architecture ...................................................................... 71 Ralph Twitchell’s Early Life and Coming to Sarasota ....................................... 74 Associated Builders, Inc.: 1936-WWII .............................................................. 77 Paul Rudolph: Early Years in Florida ................................................................ 83 Ocala Block by Twitchell & Rudolph: ................................................................ 86 Ocala Block in Florida ............................................................................................. 92 Ocala Block Among Block Manufacturers ...................................................... 100 Cummer Lime and Manufacturing Company .................................................. 103 Cummer Lumber and Company ............................................................... 103 The Launch of Cummer Lime and Manufacturing Company .................... 108 5 Cumroc Masonry Units ............................................................................ 112 Ocala Block Among Floridian Diaspora .......................................................... 116 3 TECHNICAL INVESTIGATION ............................................................................. 123 Geology of Florida ................................................................................................ 123 Ocala Limestone ............................................................................................ 126 Texture and Color .................................................................................... 129 The Cross-Florida Barge Canal ...................................................................... 132 Mineral Resources of Florida ................................................................................ 134 Stone .............................................................................................................. 135 Sands ............................................................................................................. 139 Cements ......................................................................................................... 143 Material Analysis of Ocala block samples ............................................................. 147 Sample Methodology and List ........................................................................ 147 Microscopic Observations .............................................................................. 157 Gravimetric Analysis ....................................................................................... 158 Thin Section Petrography ............................................................................... 175 4 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS .................................................... 186 Timeline of Events Affecting Ocala block .............................................................. 187 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 187 Origin .............................................................................................................. 187 Inspiration ................................................................................................ 189 Location ................................................................................................... 189 Size ................................................................................................................ 189 Color ............................................................................................................... 191 Nomenclature ................................................................................................. 193 Ocala Block: A Case of Lack of Patenting? ............................................. 194 Ocala Block: A Case of the Ocala block fad e.g. ‘Italian Marble’?............ 195 Ocala block: A Case of Rebranding by the Architects? ............................ 196 Composition ................................................................................................... 197 Summary of What is Ocala block? ................................................................. 198 The End: 1960s-70s ....................................................................................... 199 Historic Conservation ..................................................................................... 199 Future Directions .................................................................................................. 201 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 203 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 218 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 3-1 Availability of limestone sourced from Cummer Lumber Company pit. ............. 106 3-2 Analysis of limestone from Cummer Lumber Company pit (Sample D-6) ......... 106 3-3 Analysis of Ocala limestone sourced from Cummer Lumber Company