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The increasing cost of traditional building materials such as timber and bricks in the 1950s encouraged the use of alternative cladding materials such as fibrolite (asbestos). This 1954 advertisement emphasises fibrolite's lower cost, suggesting it would leave room in budgets for new consumer products such as fridges and washing machines. Fibrolite fell out of favour as a building material in the 1970s when it was discovered asbestos fibres were carcinogenic.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Hocken Collections, University of Otago
Reference: S12-221b
Permission of the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Further information may be obtained from the Library through its website.