Rafael Guastavino

In the... [St. Paul's, London] cupola... the interior dome or decoration is a hemisphere, the second one is... as a truncated , and the third... is the exterior dome. The whole does not represent the progress of the art of instruction and …

the exteriors are not the representation of the interiors

without altering the aesthetic forms; and in all the cupolas built after

All the cupolas constructed, up to the epoch of Constantine, were with brick and , in the Arabic style

[I]n the Renaissance, the most remarkable are... in the Santa Maria del Fiore, and the Medici Chapel and Baptistry of Florence; St. Augustine's and St. Peter's in the Vatican, Rome; the Madonna de la Salute, Venice; Ste. Genevieve, Paris; …

From the building of the cupola of St. Sophia to the period of the Renaissance several cupolas on the cohesive principle were constructed. The principal of these cupolas were the Mosques of Solyman II., Sultan Ahmet, and the Holy Apostles, …

The cupolas of Persia are all constructed over brick walls, and are the continuation of the same wall with the same material.

under the influence of the beginning of this civilization the construction of St. Sophia, the grandest and most finished model of the cohesive cupola, was carried out.

[T]he Oriental civilization had great influence in... antique Byzantium

We must... call attention to the construction of arches and s in the Arabian epoch, and that of the Mussulman in Persia.. where a new and powerful civilization was already developed... where the n left the trail of his ceramic work...

The Assyrians attached great importance to the of their bricks, possibly to give them conditions of cohesive strength...

The ns improved the manufacture of brick. ...[W]ith abundance of clay, as well as asphalts and mineral oils... as fuel, they came to the practical idea of burning the clay, and instead of using raw brick... For such purposes ovens were …

[N]either brick vaults, stone vaults nor timbrel vaults can be said to belong to any civilization. Similar circumstances necessitated their creation in every country.

[T]he cohesive form, as well as the typical timbrel arch, and the arch in general, was, so to speak, "born," and is not any particular invention.

[T]he general use of vaults of brick, stone or the timbrel, as well as the use of the arch itself, and its origin, is very ancient. They were applied before the days of the Rome, who did nothing but improve, making their use general...

[A]lthough the " Cohesive System," including... timbrel arches, was frequently practised by the ancients, after... the height of its splendor in the Middle Ages it gradually disappeared... as modern civilization and the Renaissance …

The "Timbrel Arch"... is as ancient as the " Cohesive System," and may be as old as its opposite.., the "Gravity System."

I have now the satisfaction of seeing a system of construction established.., which only four years ago was considered a dream, and... was noticed in a prominent technical book as a simple curiosity only. ...[A]ll the great obstacles …

[I]n July, 1889, I put all my affairs in the... corporation.., the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company.

The publication of some artistic works in illustrated papers were received with appreciation, and some successful competitions for semipublic buildings in New York put me in position to begin... tests and experiments with imported tiles.

[[Manufacturing|[M]anufacture]] of here was almost an impossibility..; if... by hand-work it would be very dear, and if by machinery.., probab[ly]... too heavy and useless. ...[O]bstacles and difficulties seemed insuperable, and hope …

I recognized the necessity of studying American methods, materials and facilities. To this... I devoted five years.

[P]lans of the buildings and factories referred to were sent to the Philadelphia Centennial, in 1876. The success... there, and the ... convinced me that this country was the... place for the development of the Cohesive System.., coming …

But all this work... had not the right technical sanction.., thickness of the arches was determined by intuition and practice... But can... [one] satisfy the sciences with these? Can we have any guarantee by these alone?