Genuine Wood Paneling Now Available To All

Americans last year bought a nearrecord 1.9 billion square feet of hardwood wall paneling-enough to circle the world 15 times or build 125 eightfoot fences around the large state of Texas.

This is more than double the Paneling homeowners bought a mere decade ago.

Once considered an amenity of the rich, genuine wood paneling belongs today to the great masses of Americans. Available in a wide range of colors, shapes and sizes, it can now be purchased for as little as 12 cents a "quar" foot-or as much as 75 cents. Tbn years ago the averag'e wood paneling was more expensive than the highest of these two extremes.

Because of its wide abundance and comparatively low present day cost, many homeowners rank paneling alongsicle fireplaces and outdoor living areas as a housing "must"-something to be specified even at the expense of other modern conveniences.

What accounts for this abrupt rise in popularity of wall paneling?

"People have always wanted hardr,vood wall paneling but only a few could afford it before now," explained [ames B. Overcast, general manager, of Strable Lumber Company, of Oakland, one of the many wholesale distributors that now handle a full line of oanels.

X{r. Overcast combined since paneling prices said three factors had Worlcl \Arar II to bring rvithin reach o{ almost

Oustonding Exhibir ot Building Cenler

evervone: the advent of rotarY - cut hard'wood veneers, the development of factory finishing processes,.and an increase of imported plywood.

Before World War II, homeowners wishing to decorate their homes with the waim tones of wood perforce chose solid wood wall Paneling-the onlY kind then readily available.

Sawn from carefully-selected, highpriced logs, these walls were too exbensive f-or the average householder. Available only in Plank form, theY were tedious ind costly to install and more often than not required the services of a professional cabinet maker. llence only the wealthy could afford paneled walls.

- A new process was Perfected in the early forties whereby sheets of veneer -thin slices of decorative wood one twenty-eighth of an inch thick-were peeled ofi logs much as You would beel a potato. Glued to a base of less "*petrsiu. material, the thin veneer layer revolutionized the paneling industry and brought wood wall -panel- ing within the buying range of most homeowners.

Even the clumsiest householder could install these four by eight panels, but he still had to finish them -- or else Day someone to do the job.

To ou"tco-e this nrarketing obstacle, wall paneling manufacturers in 1945 devised an elaborate prefinishing apparattls to sand. seal. finish and even wax tne Danels.

Although slightly higher than unfinished paneling in initial cost' the factory-finished panels eliminated the cost and labor of finishing on the job site. Installation then became easy.

A special exhibitibn of the work of Edward Durell Stone, including photographs and skctches of local as well as international projects, is being featured in the Architectural Gallery of the Building Exhibit Center, 7933 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, April 1 through 15.

The evolution of Stone's work, illustrated in the display, has been a highly interesting process. His identity was firmly established in the 1930's by such buildings as the trIuseunr of lfodern Art and the Goodyear llouse. Ifis cantilevered-balcony El Panama Hotel was a style setter for resort hotels from Hawaii to Istanbul. The American Pavilion at the Brussels World's Fair won for him and for America great applause and several gold medals. His United States Embassy in New Dehli, a striking departure from conventional nrodern architectural style, has been hailed as a masterpiece.

At present Stone is engaged in a globe-girdling array of undertakings that include hotels, hospitals, museums, cultural centers, libraries, colleges, atomic reactor buildings and factories, as well as a complete urban development in Akron and an enormous international trade mart in New Orleans.

In California, his completed projects include the Palo Alto Liraries in Palo Alto and the Stanford-Palo Alto Medical Center. Now under construction are the Commuuications Art Center and Strub Theatre at Loyola University, the Beckman Auditorium at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and the Westwood branch and the headquarters in Beverly Hills for Perpetual Savings and Loan Association. Among the projects in the design stage are the Carmelita Cultural Center in Pasadena and the Reef Point Hotel in Laguna Beach.

Time Magazine reported recently in a cover story, "Edward Durell Stone was a pioneer modernist, undoubtediy the profession's freest spirit and by general consensus the most versatile designer of his generation, most likely the architect to inherit the place in American Architecture Frank Lloyd rfrrright held."

The importation of low-priced foreign hardwood, especially from Japan and the Philippines, brought modernday wood paneling to its present inexpensive level. -

An average-size lO by 12 foot room can be paneled in Philippine mahoganv bv the homeowner for less than $100. The same amount of Pre-war solid wood paneling would cost at least $200 in materials alone.

Most of the larger manufacturers now ofier a complete paneling package. l.-irst introduced by E. L. Bruce Paneling Co., Memphis, Tenn., this Package iniludes not only prefinished paneling, but moldings color - matched to the panels themselves. Putty pencils to seal off nail holes and even stains and finishes for built - ins and accessory rvoodwork complete the kit.

Assisted by these accouterments and simplified installation techniques, almoJt any homeowner handy with a saw and hammer can panel a room iu less than a day.

X{ost panels come in three standard sizes-four by seven feet, four by eight feet, and four by ten feet. They can be nailed to wall studding in new buildings, or cemented to plaster walls in existing structures.

Most marrufacturers offer a wide selection of species-birch, walnut, cherry, oak, pine, elm, ash, butternut, pecan and, of course, foreign mahoganles.