Stone Masonry, Kielstone Masonry | Architecture Gallery

River stone with its worn edges gives a soft but strong composition if chosen and laid well. There are two main categories, either a range of grey shades, or coloured – (sand/fawn to yellow/brown). The grey is very bright and smart which goes well in any setting and colour environment. Especially popular on buildings with dark weatherboards. The earthy warm colour stone complements natural wood colours and similar plaster/ paint colours. Size and shape are important to a good result so we concentrate on stockpiling from a wonderful range of quality river stone that we have sole access to. We have over many years explored our area and built up enduring relationships to secure this.

Fieldstone which has spent some time in mud or clay is usually of a similar colour, (brown and yellow) but grey also occurs and can be mixed in to a wall. The shapes and sizes are irregular which leads to a natural, informal style of wall. Great for the countryside and relaxed dry stack walls or stylised types. Architecture can be made to look positively old world or European.

Schist which is mainly from Central Otago, but also the West Coast and Blenheim comes in many colours and different densities depending on the quarry. The style of laying we employ is the traditional dry-stack with layering of schist pieces close together. It is not recommended to use schist as a strong statement in our local landscape because it doesn’t occur here naturally like riverstone which we see every time we drive over a bridge etc . However for Urban and architectural textures/statements schist has been a long time favourite and recently the choice of schist type has been increasing.

Quarry stone is broken out of large seams underground so is very angular and dramatic in appearance. Mostly available in shades of grey but gold and brown can be sourced in smaller quantities. The grey has dark and light monochrome accents with a ting of colour sometimes while the strongly coloured stone has a ting of grey with it. The grey is flatter and more square which suits stairs and paving.