The Building of Brick 
By Robert H. Van Court 
more frequently built of brick? At first 
thought one might feel like replying that 
many of them are so built, but a moment’s 
reflection and a mental survey of the suburbs, 
even the most beautiful, with which he may 
be familiar will convince him that in only a very few in- 
stances, comparatively, is the suburban or country home 
constructed of brick unless the house be much larger and 
more costly than the average. 
If the vast majority of our suburban houses are of wood, 
it is very largely because wood is the cheapest material with 
which to build. Perhaps it would be more correct to say 
Brickwork improves in esthetic aspect with age. 
The old house of brick invariably possesses a charm peculiar to itself 
that the imitial cost 1s much less than that of any other build- 
ing material. ‘This is an age that has encouraged shams— 
in the striving for the maximum effect at the minimum cost 
—of building for to-day rather than for to-morrow and of 
being satisfied with what is attractive and temporarily effec- 
tive, rather than of striving for what is intrinsically good 
and will grow more beautiful and consequently more valu- 
able with the passing of time. In order to obtain rooms of 
a given number and size and furnishings of a certain sort, 
so many home-builders have in times past been willing to 
substitute frame for brick as the material with which to build. 
Then, too, brick is not more generally used because it is 
not quite thoroughly understood in America. The country 
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