BRICKWORK. 



927 



It is very questionable whether or not the present size is the 

 best shaped brick which could be employed for general pur- 

 ])oses, while there is certainly no doubt that it is not sufficient 

 for giving; a buikler the scope he should have in the treat- 

 ment of his subject. In England many mouldings, and even 

 carvings, are executed in what are called cutters and rubbers. 

 These are specially made bricks, highly tempered with suitable 

 sand, and, when properly worked, are capable of showing 

 lines almost as sharp and clear as freestone. 



I cannot altogether approve of the employment of cutters, 

 although they are at times useful, for naturally the softest 

 bricks are used, and no brick is so durable as it otherwise 

 would be after its kiln face is removed. A much more 

 jireferable method is the employment of purposely made 

 bricks oi' mouldings, and terra cotta v/ork for ornamentation. 



Moulded bricks are now made in considerable variety, and 

 although they cannot be finished to such an accurate line as 

 cutters, still they have the advantage of being cheap, truth- 

 ful, effective, and far more durable than cut bricks, cement, 

 or freestone. 



No material for cheap and vigorous decoration is better 

 than terra cotta. It can be modelled whilst still plastic, and 

 then burnt into one of the hardest and most imperishable of , 

 building materials. In towns especially terra cotta has much 

 to recommend its use, for those gases in the atmosphere 

 which jjlay such an important part in the decomposition of 

 freestone act much more leniently with the material now 

 under discussion. Many of the leading English architects 

 have not been slow to discover the advantages of terra cotta, 

 l)ut since its introduction as an accepted modern building- 

 material many failures have had to be recorded. 



The key to nearly every failui'e is discovered in the attemj)t 

 to make terra cotta act as a substitute for stone, instead of 

 I'ecognising that a new building material had come into 

 existence requiring a treatment peculiarly its own. Attempts 

 were made to manutiicture blocks of too great a size, and, as 

 a natural consequence, fractures, twists, and uneven shrink- 

 age was the inevitable result. 



During recent yeai-s many important buildings have been 

 erected in terra cotta, among which may be mentioned The 

 Prudential Assurance Office, Strand, London, and The 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington. Both these 

 buildings were designed by Mr, Alfred Waterhouse, R,A., 

 Arcliitect, and have met with almost universal approval. 



