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Cemesto is a sturdy, light-weight, waterproof and fire-resistant composite building material made from a core of sugar cane fiber insulating board, called Celotex, surfaced on both sides with Asbestos cement. It was originally developed by the Celotex Corporation and first introduced to the market in 1937.

Pre-fabricated homes incorporating cemesto panels under construction in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during World War II. White cemesto panels can be seen in place on several of the homes.

Cemesto was a pivotal material in the development of World War II era defense housing, which provided homes for workers mobilized to meet wartime production needs^[1].

Use and Characteristics

Cemesto panels consisted of an inner board of Celotex insulating lumber coated first in a proprietary sealant then in a layer of mixes Asbestos and Cement^[2]. The base panels are manufactured from Bagasse, a fibrous biproduct of sugarcane, using a felting process^[3]. It was manufactured in the form of boards and panels that were 4 feet (1.2 m) wide, about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) thick,^[4] and 4 feet (1.2 m) to 12 feet (3.7 m) long^[5]. These boards did not need to be painted and were delivered by the manufacturer pre cut to the desired size^[6].

Cemesto was primarily used for the interior and exterior walls of low cost houses, gas-stations, factories and office buildings^[7]. The primary structural element of the cemesto house is the window panel. Treated wood frames are attached at the top and bottom of the window unit which run horrizonally around the room as well as along the floor and ceiling.^[1] Panels of cemesto are then inserted into these frames.^[8]The panels and support the whieght of the cieling by distributing it

Panels of the material were slid into wooden frames which ran around the exterior perimiter of the building along the floor, ceiling, as well as directly above and below window height.^[8] In this construction method the primary structural elements are window panels

History

Cemesto was introduced by the Celotex Corporation in 1937^[7].

Connection to Nuclear Weapon Development

The John B. Pierce Foundation and Celotex collaborated to develop a prefabrication system for building low-cost housing using cemesto panels, in which single cemesto panels were slid horizontally into light wooden frames to create walls.^[2]^[8] A prototype cemesto house was displayed at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City.^[9] The Pierce system was first used in 1941 for building employee housing at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company near Baltimore, Maryland.^[8]^[10] For this development, named Aero Acres, the architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed gable-roofed Cape Cod houses with dimensions of 24 feet (7.3 m) by 28 feet (8.5 m), featuring large commercial-style windows in their principal rooms. In 1941 a total of 600 homes were built at Aero Acres using this design.^[2]

During World War II, when other building materials were in short supply, cemesto was used extensively in the United States.^[5]^[8] Cemesto was used to build temporary office buildings in Washington, D.C.^[11] Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill adapted the Pierce system and used cemesto panels for the designs of some 2,500 pre-fabricated homes, known by the nickname "cemestos," erected in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to house Manhattan Project workers and their families.^[12] In 1942 the U.S. Farm Security Administration built 400 cemesto homes in Maryland at a site alongside Aero Acres.^[2]

Prior to the wide-adoption of cemesto to create Prefabricated housing, most rationalized fabrications systems relied on vertical ceiling height panels supported by a frame.^[1]

During the 1940s, the manufacturer of cemesto touted it as a material that would in the future make it possible to mass-produce housing at a low cost.^[4] One use of the material during the post-war era was in the late 1940s in Circle Pines, Minnesota, where cemesto panels were used in building the first homes in what was envisioned to be a cooperative housing community for people of color.^[13] The use of cemesto in Circle Pines came to be regarded as substandard construction, as the builders failed to adequately seal the joints between cemesto panels.^[13]

Several prominent architects embraced cemesto as a modern material and used it in their designs. For the Bousquet-Wightman House in Houston, Texas, built in 1941, architect Donald Barthelme used cemesto panels for exterior sheathing.^[14] In 1949 Edward Durell Stone called for cemesto panels in the design of a home to be built in Armonk, New York.^[15] That same year, Charles Eames designed his Eames House, Case Study House #8, to use brightly painted and unfinished Cemesto panels in a prefabricated steel frame. ^[16] Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Raymond Carlson House in Phoenix, Arizona, built in 1950, to use a structural system of wood posts and cemesto boards.^[5]^[17] In the Arthur Pieper House in Paradise Valley, Arizona, built in 1952 from concrete block, Wright used cemesto for the ceilings.^[18]

In addition to houses and office buildings, cemesto was used to build gasoline stations and factories.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Marks, Elyse Marguerite (2012). The World War II Defense Housing Community of Aero Acres: Case Study for the Future Preservation of Historic Planned Suburban Communities (Thesis). Columbia University. doi:10.7916/d82j6k0g.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jack Breihan, Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, DOCONews, Summer 2008, page 7, DOCOMOMO US (the U.S. working party for DOcumentation and COnservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the MOdern MOvement)
^ Cotney, Trent. "History of Celotex". Western Roofing Magazine. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
^ ^a ^b The Cemesto Future, Time magazine, May 31, 1943
^ ^a ^b ^c Frank Lloyd Wright, Around AZ website, accessed October 24, 2008
^ JUNG, H. (2008). Evolution of “Experimental House”: Mass Production of the House and SOM During the Second World War. Seeking The City, 596-601.
^ ^a ^b ^c Material Name: Celotex, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, CAMEO website, accessed January 5, 2014
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e House and Yard: The Design of the Suburban Home, in Historic Residential Suburbs: Guidelines for Evaluation and Documentation for the National Register of Historic Places, by David L. Ames and Linda Flint McClelland, 2002
^ Robert Hugh Kargon and Arthur P. Molella, Invented Edens: Techno-Cities of the Twentieth Century, MIT Press, 2008, ISBN 0-262-11320-1, ISBN 978-0-262-11320-5 pages 76–77
^ The General Panel Corporation; Dream and Reality: America in War and Peace, pages 279-284 Archived November 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved from Lustron Preservation website, April 15, 2011.
^ Antoinette Josephine Lee, Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office, 2000, Oxford University Press US, ISBN 0-19-512822-2, ISBN 978-0-19-512822-2, page 283
^ National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for Oak Ridge Historic District Archived 2010-08-29 at the Wayback Machine, July 18, 1991
^ ^a ^b Christy DeSmith, A People’s History of Circle Pines, The Rake, November 2006
^ HOUSTON MOD AND THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE HOST THE BARTHELME EXHIBITION, Houston Mod website, accessed October 24, 2008
^ Index to Edward Durell Stone Papers, University of Arkansas Libraries, accessed October 24, 2008
^ Case Study House For 1949 Arts & Architecture magazine, Dec 1949
^ William Allin Storrer, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, A Complete Catalog, 2002, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-77622-0, ISBN 978-0-226-77622-4, pages 329–330
^ William Allin Storrer, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, A Complete Catalog, 2002, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-77622-0, ISBN 978-0-226-77622-4, pages 352–353

[:0-1] Marks, Elyse Marguerite (2012). The World War II Defense Housing Community of Aero Acres: Case Study for the Future Preservation of Historic Planned Suburban Communities (Thesis). Columbia University. doi:10.7916/d82j6k0g.

[DOCOMOMO-2] Jack Breihan, Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, DOCONews, Summer 2008, page 7, DOCOMOMO US (the U.S. working party for DOcumentation and COnservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the MOdern MOvement)

[3] Cotney, Trent. "History of Celotex". Western Roofing Magazine. Retrieved 2023-06-16.

[TIME-4] The Cemesto Future, Time magazine, May 31, 1943

[AroundAZ-5] Frank Lloyd Wright, Around AZ website, accessed October 24, 2008

[6] JUNG, H. (2008). Evolution of “Experimental House”: Mass Production of the House and SOM During the Second World War. Seeking The City, 596-601.

[Celotex-7] Material Name: Celotex, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, CAMEO website, accessed January 5, 2014

[NRHPsuburban-8] House and Yard: The Design of the Suburban Home, in Historic Residential Suburbs: Guidelines for Evaluation and Documentation for the National Register of Historic Places, by David L. Ames and Linda Flint McClelland, 2002

[9] Robert Hugh Kargon and Arthur P. Molella, Invented Edens: Techno-Cities of the Twentieth Century, MIT Press, 2008, ISBN 0-262-11320-1, ISBN 978-0-262-11320-5 pages 76–77

[10] The General Panel Corporation; Dream and Reality: America in War and Peace, pages 279-284 Archived November 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved from Lustron Preservation website, April 15, 2011.

[11] Antoinette Josephine Lee, Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office, 2000, Oxford University Press US, ISBN 0-19-512822-2, ISBN 978-0-19-512822-2, page 283

[12] National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for Oak Ridge Historic District Archived 2010-08-29 at the Wayback Machine, July 18, 1991

[Rake-13] Christy DeSmith, A People’s History of Circle Pines, The Rake, November 2006

[14] HOUSTON MOD AND THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE HOST THE BARTHELME EXHIBITION, Houston Mod website, accessed October 24, 2008

[15] Index to Edward Durell Stone Papers, University of Arkansas Libraries, accessed October 24, 2008

[16] Case Study House For 1949 Arts & Architecture magazine, Dec 1949

[Storrer1-17] William Allin Storrer, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, A Complete Catalog, 2002, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-77622-0, ISBN 978-0-226-77622-4, pages 329–330

[Storrer2-18] William Allin Storrer, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, A Complete Catalog, 2002, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-77622-0, ISBN 978-0-226-77622-4, pages 352–353

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[File:A House Cemesto Oak Ridge (6841470426).jpg|thumb|A house built with cemestos panels in the [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]] Defense Community, 1949. ]]
 '''Cemesto''' is a sturdy, light-weight, [[waterproof]] and [[List of fire-retardant materials|fire-resistant]] composite [[building material]] made from a core of [[sugar cane]] fiber [[Building insulation|insulating]] board, called Celotex, surfaced on both sides with [[Asbestos cement]]. It was originally developed by the [[Celotex|Celotex Corporation]] and first introduced to the market in 1937. [[File:OakRidgecemestroconstruction.jpg|thumb|Pre-fabricated homes incorporating cemesto panels under construction in [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], during [[World War II]]. White cemesto panels can be seen in place on several of the homes.]]
-Cemesto was a pivotal material in the development of [[World War II]] era defense housing, which provided homes for workers mobilized to meet wartime production needs<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=The World War II Defense Housing Community of Aero Acres: Case Study for the Future Preservation of Historic Planned Suburban Communities |url=https://doi.org/10.7916/D82J6K0G |publisher=Columbia University |date=2012 |doi=10.7916/d82j6k0g |language=en |first=Elyse Marguerite |last=Marks}}</ref>.
+Cemesto was a pivotal material in the development of [[World War II]] era defense housing, which provided homes for workers mobilized to meet wartime production needs<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis |title=The World War II Defense Housing Community of Aero Acres: Case Study for the Future Preservation of Historic Planned Suburban Communities |url=https://doi.org/10.7916/D82J6K0G |publisher=Columbia University |date=2012 |doi=10.7916/d82j6k0g |language=en |first=Elyse Marguerite |last=Marks}}</ref>.
 == Use and Characteristics ==
 Cemesto panels consisted of an inner board of [[Celotex insulating lumber]] coated first in a proprietary sealant then in a layer of mixes [[Asbestos]] and [[Cement]]<ref name="DOCOMOMO">Jack Breihan, [http://www.docomomo-us.org/files/DOCONewsSummer08.pdf Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721191917/http://www.docomomo-us.org/files/DOCONewsSummer08.pdf|date=2011-07-21}}, ''DOCONews'', Summer 2008, page 7, DOCOMOMO US (the U.S. working party for DOcumentation and COnservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the MOdern MOvement)</ref>. The base panels are manufactured from [[Bagasse]], a fibrous biproduct of sugarcane, using a felting process<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cotney |first=Trent |title=History of Celotex |url=https://www.westernroofing.net/2022/07/25/history-of-celotex/ |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=Western Roofing Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>. It was manufactured in the form of boards and panels that were {{convert|4|ft|m}} wide, about {{convert|1.5|in|cm}} thick,<ref name="TIME" /> and {{convert|4|ft|m}} to {{convert|12|ft|m}} long<ref name="AroundAZ">[http://www.doney.net/aroundaz/celebrity/wright_franklloyd.htm Frank Lloyd Wright], Around AZ website, accessed October 24, 2008</ref>. These boards did not need to be painted and were delivered by the manufacturer pre cut to the desired size<ref>JUNG, H. (2008). Evolution of “Experimental House”: Mass Production of the House and SOM During the Second World War. ''Seeking The City'', 596-601.</ref>.
+Cemesto was primarily used for the interior and exterior walls of low cost houses, gas-stations, factories and office buildings<ref name="Celotex" />. The primary structural element of the cemesto house is the window panel. Treated wood frames are attached at the top and bottom of the window unit which run horrizonally around the room as well as along the floor and ceiling.<ref name=":0" /> Panels of cemesto are then inserted into these frames.<ref name="NRHPsuburban" />The panels and support the whieght of the cieling by distributing it
-In general, Cemesto was used primarily for interior and exterior walls. [[Prefabricated home|Prefabricated homes]] were constructed by sliding the panels into wooden frames<ref name="NRHPsuburban" />.
+Panels of the material were slid into wooden frames which ran around the exterior perimiter of the building along the floor, ceiling, as well as directly above and below window height.<ref name="NRHPsuburban" /> In this construction method the primary structural elements are window panels
 == History ==
@@ Line 12: / Line 14: @@
 == Connection to Nuclear Weapon Development ==
-It was manufactured in the form of boards and panels that were {{convert|4|ft|m}} wide, about {{convert|1.5|in|cm}} thick,<ref name="TIME" /> and {{convert|4|ft|m}} to {{convert|12|ft|m}} long.<ref name="AroundAZ" />
 The [[John B. Pierce Foundation]] and Celotex collaborated to develop a [[prefabrication]] system for building low-cost housing using cemesto panels, in which single cemesto panels were slid horizontally into light [[wood]]en frames to create walls.<ref name=DOCOMOMO/><ref name=NRHPsuburban/> A prototype cemesto house was displayed at the [[1939 World's Fair]] in [[New York City]].<ref>Robert Hugh Kargon and Arthur P. Molella, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=oavC1vi_PvgC&dq=cemesto+celotex&pg=PA77 Invented Edens: Techno-Cities of the Twentieth Century]'', MIT Press, 2008, {{ISBN|0-262-11320-1}}, {{ISBN|978-0-262-11320-5}} pages 76&ndash;77</ref> The Pierce system was first used in 1941 for building employee housing at the [[Glenn L. Martin Company|Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company]] near [[Baltimore, Maryland]].<ref name=NRHPsuburban>[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/publications/bulletins/suburbs/part3.htm House and Yard: The Design of the Suburban Home], in ''Historic Residential Suburbs: Guidelines for Evaluation and Documentation for the [[National Register of Historic Places]]'', by David L. Ames and Linda Flint McClelland, 2002</ref><ref>[http://www.lustronpreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/thepakagedhouse6.pdf The General Panel Corporation; Dream and Reality: America in War and Peace, pages 279-284] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121121556/http://www.lustronpreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/thepakagedhouse6.pdf |date=November 21, 2008 }}. Retrieved from Lustron Preservation website, April 15, 2011.</ref> For this development, named Aero Acres, the architecture firm of [[Skidmore, Owings & Merrill]] designed [[gable|gable-roof]]ed [[Cape Cod house]]s with dimensions of {{convert|24|ft|m}} by {{convert|28|ft|m}}, featuring large commercial-style windows in their principal rooms. In 1941 a total of 600 homes were built at Aero Acres using this design.<ref name=DOCOMOMO/>
 During [[World War II]], when other building materials were in short supply, cemesto was used extensively in the United States.<ref name=AroundAZ/><ref name=NRHPsuburban/>  Cemesto was used to build temporary office buildings in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>Antoinette Josephine Lee, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hjDZz87NF8AC&dq=cemesto+board&pg=PA283 Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office], 2000, Oxford University Press US, {{ISBN|0-19-512822-2}}, {{ISBN|978-0-19-512822-2}}, page 283</ref> Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill adapted the Pierce system and used cemesto panels for the designs of some 2,500 [[pre-fabricated home]]s, known by the [[nickname]] "cemestos," erected in [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], to house [[Manhattan Project]] workers and their families.<ref>[http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/history/NPSweb/Oak_Ridge_Historic_District_(Preferred).pdf National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for Oak Ridge Historic District] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829041710/http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/history/NPSweb/Oak_Ridge_Historic_District_%28Preferred%29.pdf |date=2010-08-29 }}, July 18, 1991</ref> In 1942 the [[U.S. Farm Security Administration]] built 400 cemesto homes in [[Maryland]] at a site alongside Aero Acres.<ref name=DOCOMOMO/>
+Prior to the wide-adoption of cemesto to create [[Prefabrication|Prefabricated]] housing, most rationalized fabrications systems relied on vertical ceiling height panels supported by a frame.<ref name=":0" />
 During the 1940s, the manufacturer of cemesto touted it as a material that would in the future make it possible to [[mass-produce]] housing at a low cost.<ref name=TIME>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081214180202/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851734,00.html The Cemesto Future], Time magazine, May 31, 1943</ref> One use of the material during the post-war era was in the late 1940s in [[Circle Pines, Minnesota]], where cemesto panels were used in building the first homes in what was envisioned to be a [[cooperative housing]] community for [[people of color]].<ref name=Rake>Christy DeSmith, [http://www.rakemag.com/reporting/features/people-s-history-circle-pines A People’s History of Circle Pines], ''The Rake'', November 2006</ref> The use of cemesto in Circle Pines came to be regarded as substandard construction, as the builders failed to adequately seal the joints between cemesto panels.<ref name=Rake/>