It is almost Autumn, and typically adults would be returning to work and children to classes with stories of holidays and travel. This year with our new COVID reality, we go back to WFH and home education. QuarryHouse thought we would indulge in a little escapism and travel via film to Veneto, Italy, where we have one of our two stone shops.

Head estimator, Jeff Clark has been with QuarryHouse for over twenty-three years. The East Coast native came to California for graduate school and never left, acclimating to the San Francisco Bay Area's climate and culture. Jeff's estimates span from small residential jobs to large commercial endeavors with past estimates ranging in value to millions of dollars per project.

QuarryHouse recently reminisced about past Global adventures in a pre-Lockdown world. In 2003, a prominent San Francisco architect approached Ed Westbrook with an unusual request to source an abandoned Chinese village, disassemble it, transport the pieces to the US and painstakingly reassemble it as the centerpiece of a Napa Valley vineyard.

With SIP continuing, QuarryHouse has been catching up on our favorite tomes of stone. We pulled out the classic 1924 four-volume complete set of Audels Masons & Builders guide books from our extensive library.

Now that the Shelter in Place order is gradually lifting in California, how has it impacted QuarryHouse and their projects? We checked in with our Co-Founder and CEO, Ed Westbrook, who manages not only a regional staff but also an international one during the pandemic.

Two of the greatest attributes of stone as a building material are its strength and durability. Because of its place in the legacy of world structures, stone adds depth of natural and human history to your home or garden.

“The truth is that it has no colour that can be described. Even when the sun is obscured and the light is cold, these walls are still faintly warm and luminous, as if they knew the trick of keeping the lost sunlight of centuries glimmering about them.” British writer JB Priestley describing Cotswold Stone.

Published in 1974, Terkel interviewed over one hundred people whose working days went from the cradle to the grave literally, including a baby nurse and a gravedigger. Along the way, Terkel interviewed a stonemason, Carl Murray Bates, who spoke of stone’s siren call.

QuarryHouse’s Ed Westbrook is a great admirer of renowned Master Stone Carver, Nicholas Fairplay. The ICAA Artisan Committee which Ed chairs, will be presenting, "Stone Carving Techniques: Architectural Elements," a lecture by the UK born and Continental trained artist.

In Verona, Italy, QuarryHouse's business partner is CITCO, a company combining old-world craftsmanship with innovative modern design. Owners Camiran Rasool and Valentina Fraccaroli create unique collaborative stone works.

October marked the 38th year of The San Francisco Fall Show held at the Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. The theme this year was "Wanderlust Around The World With Art, Antiques & Design."

QuarryHouse does not limit itself to stone but also works with several artisanal studios in Italy, specializing in terra cotta tile collections. These handmade collections are fabricated from the regional clay and come in a range of traditional colors suitable for indoor and outdoor floorings, coatings, columns, roofs, and ceilings, as well as kitchens and bathrooms.

Our team proudly operates workshops in Richmond, California and Verona, Italy to provide our clients with the finest stonework. Salvador Mata and Hermino Ochoa operate our Richmond facility which features a full complement of equipment ranging from traditional stone carving tools to a computer-controlled milling machine.

Metaphors of stone in our language are as common as metaphors of the human body. We are ‘chips off the old block’ insofar as we resemble our parents. When we are in proximity, we are a ‘stone’s throw’ away. When we are in support of each other, we are each other’s ‘rock’; but when we are indifferent to each other, we have a ‘heart of stone’.

At QuarryHouse we value our collaborations with designers and builders. One of these is interior designer Christopher Lane Roy of Christopher Roy & Co. A former design principal of Tucker & Marks, Christopher has worked with world-class architects, builders, and artisans for over 20 years.

Every other year the The Northern California Chapter of The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art (ICAA) hosts the Julia Morgan Awards to celebrate excellence in classical and traditional design. This year, QuarryHouse was awarded for its work of stonemasonry historic restoration performed to the rooftop balustrade, parapet fascia and coping of the Hibernia Bank Building, a key San Francisco landmark.

We often wonder how the Egyptian pharaohs dealt with their designers when questions arose as to color or texture of temples. We suppose the threat (or promise) of being entombed for eternity in one’s own design had a way of focusing the conversation.