Brick


Definitions:

  • brick: molded rectangular block of clay baked by the sun or in a kiln until hard and used a building and paving material
  • common brick: brick made for general building purposes and not specially treated for color and texture. Also called "building brick."
  • facing brick: brick made of special clays for facing a wall, often treated to produce the desired color and surface tension. Also called "face brick."
  • glazed brick: brick that has a coating of colored, opaque, or transparent material applied before firing
  • Roman brick: brick having nominal dimensions of 4x2x12 in. (economy brick: 4x4x8 in.) Favored by Frank Lloyd Wright in his prairie homes. Also found in the Williams-Butler mansion. Rarely manufactured today.
  • efflorescence: a white, powdery deposit that forms on an exposed masonry or concrete surface, caused by the leaching and crystallization of soluble salts from within the material
  • course: a row of bricks
  • header: short side of the brick faces out
  • stretcher: long side of the brick faces out
  • harvard (unmolded) brick


Former quarries near Buffalo:

Click on photos for larger size


Glazed brick. Note where the glazed has eroded


This cream-colored brick is unusual for two reasons: it is Roman brick, and it is curved (Forman-Cabana House)


A wall of the Amherst Street Transit Station which was intended to be a work of art in its own right.


Detail of previous photo






Many Italianate style house in Buffalo are constructed of brick with wood ornamentation, Over the years, many have been painted as in 266 Carolina


Another Italianate house (3 Cottage)


The darker brown brick is used to represent the tree of life in the Bennett Apartments, an Art Deco design.


Terra cotta is is used for ornamentation in the light-colored brick in downtown Buffalo's Brisbane Building next to Lafayette Square






In H.H. Richardson's Dorsheimer House, brick is ornamented with gray sandstone and wood


A rich maroon brick is beautifully contrasted to white glazed terra cotta at Grover Cleveland H.S.


A more common orange brick is ornamented with white glazed terra cotta in the Hotel Lafayette by a woman architect, Louise Blanchard Bethune


White glazed terra cotta also adds interesting detail in the Lenox Hotel




 


Frank Lloyd Wright's famous Martin House, like most of his Prairie style buildings, uses Roman brick.


Red brick provides warm contrast to the wrought iron lamp at the Williams-Pratt House, one of two remaining mansions in Buffalo by McKim, Meade, and White


Common brick compared ro Roman brick

 


Information provided by: http://ah.bfn.org