Earls Court Living
Stucco
Origin
Stucco was originally a slow setting plaster composed of gypsum, sand and lime. Stucco was introduced in England as an exterior wall covering and the word has been broadened to cover any external cement rendering.
Fake stone
Stucco became particularly popular in Georgian times as a cheap substitute for a stone-faced façade.
Rustification
To make it seem as if the wall was really expensive stone blocks under the paint, the stucco was usually incised with vertical and horizontal lines. The process of making cuts in the plaster to make it look like the joints between ashlar (shaped stone) blocks is called rustification. It was often so good that it is hard to tell stucco from genuine stone-fronted buildings, particularly when they have been painted.
Vermiculation
Another fashionable effect was - vermiculation – digging an irregular texture into the plaster to give the effect of roughly cut stone. This was often used in the surrounds of doors or in fake quoins on the corners of buildings.
Tax evasion
A Brick Tax was imposed in 1784 to fund the fight against the Americans in the War of Independence. The tax was originally 2 shillings and 6 pence per 1,000 bricks (increased to 5 shillings in 1784). The tax encouraged people to cover the front of their house in stucco to conceal the bricks,. Stucco became a regular feature of Georgian houses, .
Later stucco
Much of the stucco we now see is not original. The late Georgians and Victorians often felt the need to "improve" the unfashionably plain houses of their forebears with a liberal application of stucco. They also frequently added balconies, balustrades and a portico.
Paint colour
The light white or off-white paint which now covers the stucco in the best squares and terraces of London is a fairly modern invention. In Georgian and Victorian times darker colours were generally used.
