Limestone Block

A weathered limestone block with a band of green moss and yellow lichen running across its face. The stone around the band is pale with darkened patches, deep pitting and blackened areas on the flat faces, and pronounced vertical tool marks run down both ends where the block was squared. It is low and heavy and the proportions are plain.

It measures 32 3/4 inches long, 11 3/4 inches deep and 12 inches high, which is close to a riser, so it works as a step without any cutting. It is a single piece of antique limestone, heavy enough to want two people and a dolly, and it sits flat without fixing. The moss and lichen are alive and will keep growing in shade and damp; in full sun they will fade to a stain.

Set it as a single step up from a gravel path into a planted bed, use it as a plinth under a heavy terracotta pot or a bronze in a courtyard, or lay it as a threshold between two ground materials. Smooth paving, raw timber or dark steel make the surface read. Limestone blocks this size are the most useful things in the yard. It is in our yard in Marina Del Rey; come and see the moss, or ask for photographs and a quote.