What is the building in which a mason works called?

[Kraven Kor]

I want to say "masonries" but can't find anything on google.

 

Just need it for writing up a city description.

[Barwickian]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Lodge (admin, meeting or temporary) or workshop (where the craft is performed).

 

A stonemason's yard may include workshop and storage areas.

[Orion]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

They call it an uncompleted building. Once they are completed, he gets another commission, and starts a new building. :-)

[Cancer]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Masonite!

[mhd]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Don't forget that there's a reason for the "journey" part of "journeyman".

[Lucius]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

"Under Construction"

 

or "Under Reconstruction"

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Unreconstructed palindromedary

[McCoy]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

They call it an uncompleted building. Once they are completed' date=' he gets another commission, and starts a new building. :-)[/quote']

That was my thought.

[Barwickian]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Don't forget that there's a reason for the "journey" part of "journeyman".

 

Don't forget that the reason is that the French for day is journee. Journee-men were day labourers.

[mhd]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Don't forget that the reason is that the French for day is journee. Journee-men were day labourers.

 

Damn you, reality, from ruining my perfect folk etymology…

 

But still, as far as I know, traveling masons used to be pretty common, just like carpenters.

[Barwickian]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

 

Yes, masons would travel if they had to - and unless they got hired for a really big project (a castle or cathredral), or in a town large enough to provide a steady source of work, they'd have to travel in search of new projects.

[MisterVimes]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Psh. Clearly it's a Mason Jar. That is, if it is a very tiny Mason.

[Lucius]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

They are supposed to be secret, but everyone's heard of the Masons.

 

The Dixons must be even more secret, I never hear about them

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary is sure Lucius will get a line on them

[mhd]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Maison?

[Cancer]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Back when I played on an intramural basketball team, we called ourselves the Masons because of all the rocks we threw up at the basket.

[Markdoc]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Mason didn't really have work buildings as such: if they were supervising stonecutting, they'd do it at the quarry. If they were supervising stone-fitting, mixing mortar, etc, then they'd be at the building site. Masons were, by and large an outdoor trade.

 

cheers, Mark

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Mason didn't really have work buildings as such: if they were supervising stonecutting, they'd do it at the quarry. If they were supervising stone-fitting, mixing mortar, etc, then they'd be at the building site. Masons were, by and large an outdoor trade.

 

cheers, Mark

At least until the ceiling went up, anyway, and then it would probably be time for another job.

[Barwickian]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Mason didn't really have work buildings as such: if they were supervising stonecutting, they'd do it at the quarry. If they were supervising stone-fitting, mixing mortar, etc, then they'd be at the building site. Masons were, by and large an outdoor trade.

 

cheers, Mark

 

True for building works. At those, the masons would build a lodge as a place to meet, store tools or work on smaller projects in inclement weather. Size would depend on the number of masons, which depended on the size of the project. It takes many more masons to build a castle or cathedral than a house or parish church.

 

But in towns where there might be a regular source of smaller jobs, I can well see a mason operating a permanent, off-site workshop. All those funerary effigies of knights and noblewomen had to come from somewhere. Smaller decorative touches for a large building (such as ornamental bosses) would likely be made on-site, but could be made off-site if a workshop was available.

 

Then ther emight be stock ornamental or monumental pieces that a mason could keep ready or partially ready for sale: statuetes, sundials, blank headstones. These would be made in a workshop.

 

Even quarrymen would likely have a lodge on-site.

[Markdoc]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

True for building works. At those, the masons would build a lodge as a place to meet, store tools or work on smaller projects in inclement weather. Size would depend on the number of masons, which depended on the size of the project. It takes many more masons to build a castle or cathedral than a house or parish church.

 

But in towns where there might be a regular source of smaller jobs, I can well see a mason operating a permanent, off-site workshop. All those funerary effigies of knights and noblewomen had to come from somewhere. Smaller decorative touches for a large building (such as ornamental bosses) would likely be made on-site, but could be made off-site if a workshop was available.

 

Masons made buildings. They didn't carve effigies, ornamental touches, or, for that matter, the stones they built with, usually. Those were jobs for stonecarvers and quarrymen, respectively. Masons were a fairly specialised trade, whose job was to put buildings together, not make the bits buildings were made out of (it's why they were considered a "fine" trade). A mason was partly a builder, partly an architect, partly a designer ... not a mere tradesman. Masons did carve specialist pieces though (corner and keystones, archetraves, restpieces, etc) especially as journeymen and the humbler types would naturally do more.

 

Then ther emight be stock ornamental or monumental pieces that a mason could keep ready or partially ready for sale: statuetes' date=' sundials, blank headstones. These would be made in a workshop.[/quote']

 

These would usually be made in the craftman's own home which would have had a workshop attached: if the mason wanted them, he'd know where to go. However, making things "on spec" was usually not something carvers or artisans did (at least not on this scale) because of the work and cost involved. Most items were made to a specific demand and the idea of buying things "off the shelf" or shops with a big stock from which you could choose, is actually a pretty modern one.

 

Even quarrymen would likely have a lodge on-site.

No doubt. I doubt they'd call it a lodge, though which had a very specific meaning in medieval times

 

cheers, Mark

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

I was doing some reading related to this the other day, specifically in regards to masons marks. Each Lodge has it's own base lodge mark, which is the root mark for all masons trained at that lodge, and as the basis for any new lodges branched off from the main lodge. This allowed for the Master Masons on a particular project to recognize the providence of training for any journeymen hired for a particular job site by a glance at his mark.

[Markdoc]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

I was doing some reading related to this the other day' date=' specifically in regards to masons marks. Each Lodge has it's own base lodge mark, which is the root mark for all masons trained at that lodge, and as the basis for any new lodges branched off from the main lodge. This allowed for the Master Masons on a particular project to recognize the providence of training for any journeymen hired for a particular job site by a glance at his mark.[/quote']

 

Masons were also often paid by the stone, and multiple masons might work on a large building, so the mark allowed them to work out how much they were owed for a specific job and divide up the agreed-upon payment ("No, see, I did this bit - here's my mark! You only did the bit under the windows."

 

cheers, Mark

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Masons were also often paid by the stone' date=' and multiple masons might work on a large building, so the mark allowed them to work out how much they were owed for a specific job and divide up the agreed-upon payment ("[i']No, see, I did this bit - here's my mark! You only did the bit under the windows[/i]."

 

cheers, Mark

 

Makes sense.

[Markdoc]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

Masons were also often paid by the stone' date=' and multiple masons might work on a large building, so the mark allowed them to work out how much they were owed for a specific job and divide up the agreed-upon payment ("[i']No, see, I did this bit - here's my mark! You only did the bit under the windows[/i]."

 

cheers, Mark

 

Makes sense.

 

Also, as an addendum to that, consider that medievals often worked to longer time frames than we did. A big building like a cathedral or fortress could - literally - take generations to complete, so a worker could not necessarily wait until it was finished to collect his fee! The stone marking deal allowed a mason to work for a few years, while getting a steady (if small) stream of income as "his section" was being completed. It also protected him against loss of income if somebody else was not pulling their weight: he got paid for what he had done. In addition, certain stones or types of stone were worth more than others: the kind that required special attention or were critical to a specific point (heavy load-bearing stones, lintels, that sort of thing). In an era where paper contracts for workers were rare and the sort of tracking of business expenditures that we take for granted today didn't exist, it's actually a pretty clever system.

 

As an aside, I've just gotten back from 10 days in and around Rhodes. We stayed in the old city, which is both a world heritage site and the biggest inhabited medieval city ion Europe. As we were walking around the defences (which are still in really good condition), my wife commented "How long did it take to build this? These guys must have spent most of their life cutting and stacking stones!"

 

cheers, Mark

[Kraven Kor]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

FYI, this will be for a 16th century-esque work of fiction. I was specifically wanting to know what to call the building where they cut and finished the stones. Raw stone gets broken into chunks at the quarry, I would imagine, then moved to a workshop (?) or yard (?) to be polished, decorated, marked, or the like, then the finished stones - ashlar and such - moved to the site where the stones are turned into a building.

 

Regardless, as usual, you all rock. (See what I did there?)

[Lucius]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

No doubt. I doubt they'd call it a lodge, though which had a very specific meaning in medieval times

 

cheers, Mark

 

What did it specifically mean?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

the palindromedary lodges a question

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

 

What did it specifically mean?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

the palindromedary lodges a question

Guildhouse, more or less. A place where the mysteries of a craft are held