Development Of Cork Flooring

Cork flooring has begun to re-establish itself as a viable floor covering option. Initially, cork became a popular and widely used resilient flooring material in the first half of the 20th century. Today as the interest in renewable, sustainable interior products grows, cork is a proven and logical choice for environmentally sensitive installations. Some of the early installations such as the United States Department of Commerce Building (circa 1930) are still in use today and attest to cork's lasting durability.

From 1900 to 1945 cork was frequently used in government buildings, banks, universities and homes. Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the most renowned architects of that time, chose cork for use in many of his residential designs including "The House on a Waterfall" in Laurel Highlands, PA. Other installations of that period which are still in use today include the Department of the Interior Building and the National Archives (circa 1930), in Washington, DC, St. Mary of the Lake Chapel, Mundelein, IL (circa 1920) and Lafayette College, Easton, PA (circa 1930).

In the beginning of the 20th century, cork flooring predominately consisted of light, medium, and dark shades. Cork wall base coving and stair nosing were also a popular choice for commercial and residential installations. Until the 1950s, cork tile was manufactured primarily in the United States, Great Britain and Switzerland while the raw material was supplied from and processed in Portugal and Spain.

Armstrong was one of the most influential cork manufacturers in the United States. They developed and manufactured a wide variety of products in their Pittsburgh, PA and Brunswick, NJ facilities. During this time, cork flooring became the first truly resilient flooring material. As product tastes changed and cork manufacturing shifted from the United States to Europe, Armstrong developed new products such as linoleum and vinyl, which they are known for today. Consequently cork lost much of the market share it had gained in the first half of the 20th century. In the late l960s and early 1970s interest in cork again increased but fell well short of the levels of 1927 when 2.9 million square feet of cork were sold.