Guard stones protect buildings from damage caused by vehicles. They were first used to prevent horse-drawn vehicles from chipping building corners. In Europe, guard stones are attached to buildings, while in the US, they are placed a small distance away, such as curbs in parking lots. Guard stones can be made of rock or metal and serve as both an ornament and practical damage prevention measure.
A guard stone is a sturdy building ornament placed where cars or other traffic vehicles have a high probability of making contact with the building and damaging it over time. These stones were first used by homeowners who observed that people driving horse-drawn vehicles are often unaware of the turning radius needed to avoid crashing into buildings. As the protrusion of the metal axle through the wagon wheels would over time have chipped the corners of the buildings, capstones were put in place to provide a substantial object to protect the building from damage.
Some guardstones are attached to a building, while others are placed some distance away. Often, a guard stone is placed on the corner of a building that is at an intersection where vehicles are more likely to come into close contact with the building due to turning. In Europe, guard stones are often attached directly to a building, while in the United States, guard stones are more often placed a small distance from the building, such as a curb in a parking lot.
Curbs serve the same purpose to the modern era as a capstone served before 1900. The change in the shape of the capstone mirrors the change in function. The guard stones were once taller, larger and would have been very close to the buildings. After 1900, tall guardstones adjacent to building corners were less necessary to prevent damage to buildings because people would be more careful to refrain from causing damage to their cars.
However, due to the lack of visibility from inside an automobile, motorists sometimes had difficulty measuring the distance between their car and a building near which they would need to park. Curbs were soon implemented to keep cars from hitting the building, but were constructed at ground level and further away from the building than traditional guard stones to address the change in need for solutions due to technological advances. On roads, guard stones are often made of concrete or steel and are rarely decorated.
Against a building, however, a guardstone is more likely to be decorative, serving as an ornament to the building and as a practical damage prevention measure. Guardstones are often made of rock or metal and can be carved, shaped, bent, or otherwise made into a work of art. In many Eastern countries, it is common to find that the primary purpose of a guardstone is now to serve as decoration as, in some cases, guardstones are no longer needed where they once were.
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