Celebrating 100 years - 58

million square feet during the same period,
an increase of 103 percent. Georgia-Pacific
increased its capacity by 61 percent to 466
million square feet, again over the same
time frame.
Thus, the three largest board manufacturers prepared for a construction boom.
Some manufacturers beefed up their sales
training programs and started calling on
architects.
The buildup came at the right time. World
World II created a global housing crisis.
Japan lacked lumber to replace its housing
stock destroyed during the war. Australia
faced a building materials shortage. The
United States saw family formation increase,
and G.I.s returning from the war needed
homes. Gypsum board could deliver walls
and ceilings faster than wet material systems.
The approaches to construction were
changing. Erwin M. Lurie, director of
the National Foundation for Lathing and
Plastering, Inc., of which CPIA was a member, said plaster covered 90 to 95 percent of
all residential interiors in the early 1920s. By
the mid 1940s, plaster's share had dropped
to 60 to 65 percent of home interiors. In
some parts of the country, Lurie said, plaster
covered only 30 percent of the walls.
"Once these people get used to dry walls,
and substitute materials, and the elimination
of plastering," Lurie warned 1947 CPIA
convention goers, "it will take us a long
time to reinstate ourselves."
58

AWCI: ACTION

The 1940s were challenging for CPIA.
By the middle of the decade, membership
had plunged. The association's activities
nearly ceased.
"The war, of course, interrupted the
normal procedure, and during the course
of that time we have lost a good many
members," President Edmond F. Venzie
told 65 convention attendees in 1947. "Like
every other organization we have slowed up
considerably. We are now going back into
an active organization."
The loss in death of Oscar A. Reum in
1945 and Eddie McDonnell in 1946 created
a void in energy and leadership. The association came to life after some telephone calls
in 1945 led to John H. Hampshire being
elected CPIA president. About eight or
nine CPIA officers convened in December
1946, appointing Venzie as president. A
Cleveland convention in November 1947
saw a jump in participation-65 members
attended that year.
Milestone projects. T.A. O'Rourke &
Company received acclaim for its 1940
work on Parkchester. A planned Bronx
community developed by the Metropolitan
Insurance Company, Parkchester was the
largest lathing and plastering project in the
world. It included 700,000 yards of threeeighths-inch metal lath, 36,000 tons of
gypsum plaster, 15,500 tons of hydrated lime

Oscar A. Reum, CPIA's
president for 26
years, died on Oct.
18, 1945, as the result
of complications
due to a fall.

and 130,000 cubic yards of plastering sand.
In 1942, the Mercantile National Bank
Building in Dallas featured fireproofing
using lath, plaster and lightweight aggregate.
A.A. Greer Inc. had the interiors contract.
It was the only major skyscraper built during
World War II.
From 1941 through 1942, plastering crews
from McNulty Bros. Co., Chicago, and
Krafft Murphy Co., Washington, D.C.,
teamed up to work on the Pentagon. U.S.
Army engineers took the lead in directing
construction. The Pentagon was completed
in January 1943, was 3,705,793 square feet
in size and had employed 20,000 construction workers.
In April 1948, the Molette housing proj-

Opposite Page
Casablanca, starring
Humphrey Bogart and
Ingrid Bergman, opens
in Hollywood (1942). The
Pentagon is completed
(1943). American
soldiers invade France
on D-Day (1944).
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Celebrating 100 years
