INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



CONCRETE BLOCKS 



Since the dawn of history, the most popular form of 

 building material which could claim any great degree 

 of permanency, has been in the form of small units of 

 uniform size, such as bricks. The reason for this is 

 obvious. The convenience in handling such units, and 

 the varied forms of structures that could be fashioned 

 with them without very great difficulty, insured such 

 popularity. The cheapness of bricks, and the fact 

 that clay for making them is found in practically 

 every part of the world, has added to this popularity. 

 Until some substance could be found that competed 

 in all these good qualities, and could show some supe- 

 rior ones, the preeminence of brick as building material 

 remained unassailed. It was not until the closing 

 years of the nineteenth century that any substance 

 made a permanent bid for this position not until 

 the concrete block was perfected, that the position of 

 the brick was seriously jeopardized. 



First of all, the predominating advantage of price 

 had to be met. But there is another item besides the 

 one of actual manufacture that has to be reckoned with 

 in brick-walled structures. This is the cost of con- 

 struction. The smaller the units the greater the cost 

 of building them into a permanent structure. And 

 here the concrete block scored a point over brick. 

 There is a limit to the size at which the brick can be 

 made economically. There is practically no such limit 



