The legacy of sandstone

How Cleveland Quarries is building on a tradition of value with the finest sandstone in the world

Ohio has long been known as the Sandstone Capital of the World, responsible for almost all of the sandstone in the world, from millstones to the most prized architectural stone. The state’s deposit of high quality Berea sandstone led to the formation of the quarries at Amherst, and the stone quarried there by Cleveland Quarries is reputed to have been used to provide all American GIs with knife sharpeners during World War II. Cleveland Quarries has a venerable history—after all, the company is 140 years old.

But recently, things have changed. The played-out quarries in Amherst are being developed by über-developer Stu Lichter of Industrial Realty Group into a major 1,150 unit housing project, the $500 million Quarries at Beaver Creek, as its first residential development. It will come complete with hotel, indoor and outdoor pools, equestrian center, marina and hiking, biking and riding paths. The series of lakes that were quarries, with 70- to 100-foot sheer walls up from the water, are surrounded by forest, a unique topography. “Stu came out here and he just fell in love with the land,” says Russ Ciphers, president of Cleveland Quarries, about the sale.

However, dimensional sandstone is still in high demand, and it still needs to be quarried, so Cleveland Quarries continues its operation out of Vermilion, Ohio, with one working quarry in Birmingham that provides 450 million cubic feet of stone. When IRG bought the quarries, it took over the entire property, with the idea that the Vermilion location would continue Cleveland Quarries’ leadership in providing the world with sandstone. And not just any sandstone, but the best in the world.

The operation is headed by Ciphers, who took over at Cleveland Quarries in 2002 after a very successful career of invigorating businesses across the country. Ciphers learned about the Berea sandstone, and to love the stone, very quickly. He is enthusiastic about its advantages. “We are very competitive with limestone,” he says, “but we are better. The stone lasts forever.” It is durable, with 12,000 lb of compression strength gained under the crushing load above the forming sandstone. It has innate slip resistance and can stand up to salts and other ice-control chemicals, as well as airborne acidic chemicals that erode stone. And it is less porous, so it stands up to freeze-thaw cycles.

Plus, there are its aesthetics. The quartz in the stone is not only one of the hardest materials known, it sparkles and is available in a range of hues. Cleveland Quarries offers products in Amherst gray and Birmingham buff, but since sandstone is a natural product, it can form “tornadoes,” discolorations that add character and interest to the architectural product.

Ciphers points out that sandstone is quarried not in big blocks but in bed heights, breaking off where a rupture in the stone naturally occurs. Due to the water table so near the lake, the stone is hard to extract beyond a depth of around 120 ft.

Today’s stone is used residentially in today’s high quality homes, and in landscaping their terraces, patios, fountains and pavers, where it is, as Ciphers calls it, “a product of choice.” And its use continues as well as in its traditional institutional uses: college buildings, city halls, courthouses, churches and museums. Other uses are in historic preservation, with the recent popularity of preservation giving a company a growing presence in that area.

“One problem is that no one kept records on which quarry the stone was from, so it can be a little harder to match,” he says. But a lot of old stone to be reused comes from old barn supports, a testament to sandstone’s ability to stand wear.

Cleveland Quarries is a full-service company, involved in quarrying, primary processing, sawing the large blocks into smaller blocks or large slabs; secondary processing, the conversion of smaller blocks or slabs into finished product; and stone carving and restoration. Indeed, sandstone is so hard that there are only a few substances harder, so Cleveland Quarries uses diamond saw blades to cut the panels. A new state-of-the-art Pellegrini saw from Italy, one that can cut up to 11 panels as a time, is now in use, but a second saw will be online soon, with space in one of two newly acquired buildings in Vermilion being prepared for its installation.

The sandstone must be cut while water is sprayed on it, and at Cleveland Quarries, this water is maintained in a closed system and kept recirculating from a capture well, keeping it out of the outside environment. Dust in the air is also kept at bay and out of the atmosphere, indoors and out.

Another Cleveland Quarries output is the cores used by the petroleum and chemical industries for testing; they are such high quality that they are worth a substantial amount and have become the industry standard. In addition, the firm is known for its knowledge of the product, as it should be after almost a century and a half, and for its reliability and timely delivery. Cleveland Quarries also has new developments in mind, in the form of preformed sandstone panels coupled with glass to give architects and designers exciting new possibilities with the product.

Examples of Cleveland Quarries work abound, from the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto to the dominion’s capital buildings in Ottawa. “For some reason, we are very popular in Canada,” says Ciphers, no doubt in part to sandstone’s weatherability. In America, Cleveland Quarries products can be seen as a travelogue; from Boston’s John Hancock Building to Chicago’s Grand Pacific Hotel, from the Savannah Courthouse to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Little Rock. In Cleveland, the stone is seen in the iconic Guardians of Traffic on the Hope Memorial Bridge, as well as the Old Stone Church and U.S. Post Office. BXM