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NIST Tests Home Construction

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Testing Stucco Panels at NIST
Credit: NIST Digital Collections

A giant Rubik’s Cube? An early modernist-style building? We weren’t sure what to make of this photo taken on the NIST campus in 1911.  Turns out it was a two-year exposure test of 300 panels made of various stucco and plaster formulations.  Stucco and plaster house construction was popular at the time, but a number of reported failures of this building-type led NIST to be asked to test the durability of these materials and their construction methods. 

Buildings and Construction
Released November 30, 2016, Updated February 3, 2025
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