When we purchased Langdale it was a bad mix of five decades of poor finishes and most of the original finish choices, which might have been good for its day, had either been removed, painted, or papered over. One of the original surfaces worth keeping was the white terrazzo floors in the public areas.







Terrazzo was originally invented by Venetian construction workers as a low cost flooring material using marble chips from upscale jobs. The workers would usually set them in clay to surface the patios around their living quarters. Consisting originally of marble chips, clay, and goat milk (as the sealer), production of terrazzo became much easier after the 1920s and the introduction of electric industrial grinders and other power equipment. Newly-set terrazzo will not look like marble unless it is wet. That's where the goat's milk comes in, acting as a sealer and preserving the wet and marble-like look.

When the terrazzo is thoroughly dry (or cured in the case of thin-set terrazzo), the floor is ground with a terrazzo grinder, which is somewhat like a floor polisher, only much heavier. Slight depressions left by the grinding are filled with a matching grout material and hand-troweled for a smooth, uniform surface. Workers then clean, polish, and seal the dry surface for a lustrous finish.

With a little detective work we identified the original company who poured the terrazzo floors in 1959 and they were able to match the terrazzo in the public areas of the house and in some areas poured new matching terrazzo. They also cleaned and repaired the floors, which had been severely neglected by previous owners. And yes the floors are sealed with goats milk.