Alabastine Wall Coloring

I’ve been working on a super secret writing project, like some of the other Fillies, and the research has been so fun.

In one scene in my story, I wanted to have a character paint a room pink. Before I whipped out the paintbrush in the story, I decided I better do some research about the colors available at that time (hint: my story is historical!).

I Googled “paint colors 1890s” and one of the websites that popped up had images of old color samples. For a visual person, this was a treasure trove of detail!

But one of those samples really caught my attention.

It was from the Alabastine Company. Since the color I was searching for was this exact shade of pink, I did a search for Alabastine paint.

What I discovered was that they promoted their company as offering “Sanitary Wall Covering.”

What, now?

Alabastine claimed their product would “keep the walls sweet, fresh, pure, and healthful, — as pure as the natural rock from which Alabastine has its origin.” The health benefits touted for their “sanitary wall finish” included resisting problems associated with contagious diseases such as scarlet fever and typhoid because germs and insects would have anywhere to “set up housekeeping” on their superior finishes.

 

Melvin B. Church founded the Alabastine Company in New York in 1879. Something of an inventor, he tinkered with a new way to paint walls and formulated Alabastine.

The product was derived from gypsum that was mined from shale beds around Alabaster, Michigan. The paint was a base of calcined gypsum which took the place of the widely used calimine in wall coatings and finish.

 

During the early years of the 1900s, paint and stencils were a colorful and popular way to decorate the walls of a home. Alabastine capitalized on the trend. One of the company slogans was, “Alabastine Your Walls and Combine Healthfulness With Beauty.”

 

 

The product was a powder that was mixed with water and applied, rather like Plaster of Paris. The durable surface it created was reportedly easy to maintain and touch up. It could be applied over painted walls – or even wallpaper. One article said it could be modeled into tiles and sealed with varnish to use in kitchens and bathrooms.

The company produced a number of colorful advertisements in various magazines that included some of the most popular of the day like the Ladies Home Journal, the Delineator, and House Beautiful.

They also produced small booklets of stencil designs that were distributed to painters and decorates. Postcards with varied color schemes were printed by the thousands and distributed.  The company even maintained a staff of artists to help with color schemes and design. If you really want to see more of what they produce, an antique booklet is available at Abe Books for $75!

Sadly, the company went out of business in 1948 due to “mismanagement.”

At any rate, I thought it was neat to learn about this unique type of wall tint that I had no idea existed!

When it comes to decorating your home, do you like to paint?

Hate to paint? Fall somewhere in the middle?

Do you have a favorite room in your home?