October, 19 21 
S3 
Gillies 
The plain stucco wall furnishes the 
desirable surface for the play of light 
and shadow. Welles Bosworth, archi¬ 
tect 
{Left) Shingles, put up as they come, 
regardless of size or finish, are pic¬ 
turesque on Colonial houses. Looker 
& Marsh, architects 
(Right) The wide clapboard on this 
house is laid flat in "ship-lap” con¬ 
struction. Dwight James Baum, archi¬ 
tect 
of the old Tudor towns to realize the 
durability and decorative quality of 
brick, or to spend a day in Salem, 
Mass., to gain an interesting idea of 
its fine, quaint dignity. It is fire¬ 
proof so far as any building material 
can be, easily handled, and builds 
pleasantly in a heavily wooded sec¬ 
tion or on a cultivated landscape. It 
is cold and depressing if left stand¬ 
ing alone in a solitary pasture or at 
the seashore. It blends exceedingly 
well with other materials for orna¬ 
mental details; for instance, with 
stone in the lintels, cornices and sills 
or combined with half-timber con¬ 
struction; or the bricks may be laid 
with uneven heading. 
Brick is usually put up in a solid 
structure banded with mortar, or a 
face brick may be used over hollow 
tile construction. 
Brick Bonding 
Probably no building material can 
be used in such a variety of ways as 
brick because of the infinitely differ¬ 
ent methods of laying them up. The 
general practice in rough brick work 
in this country is to make each sixth 
course a header course. This forms 
a sort of decorative quality due to the 
joints. When every second row of 
brick is laid endwise, which is called 
English bond, the repetition becomes 
constant and does not attract atten¬ 
tion. Another system of bonding the 
face brick is called Flemish. Here 
every second brick is a header, so 
that the walls appear to be built of short and 
long bricks alternately. As with stone work, the 
final effect of a brick house must depend upon 
the mortar as well as the color of the brick used, 
and this must be considered carefully, if you 
have in mind a special color scheme involving 
the color of the walls, the roof and the garden. 
We are showing one interesting detail of a 
brick house in which the header brick project^ 
Stucco, brick and half-timber are here com¬ 
bined in a fagade having both variety and 
dignity. Edson Gage, architect 
Variety of Color 
Brick today no longer means a 
bright red surface marked off with 
even rows of white pointing; there is 
as great a variety in the color of face 
bricks as in shingles. You can have 
a wall laid up in rose, in purple, in 
red-brown and green, in greens and 
browns, or in any special tone that 
you like. And the mortar can be made to match 
the brick or a variation of color can be gained 
through the pointing. We find as much variety 
in the texture of the brick as there is in the 
color and the laying of it. The rougher surfaces 
certainly carry a greater beauty today than the 
smooth, polished effects of which we used to be 
so proud. 
{Continued on page 74) 
well beyond the flat brick, with the 
mortar routed out between. This gives 
almost the effect of a stone wall and 
is used for the whole lower story. In 
the upper story the brick is laid with 
a smoother surface, but irregularly, 
both horizontally and perpendicular¬ 
ly, with the plaster showing, and set 
in sections between half-timber con¬ 
struction. The bricks are overburned 
and the mortar a dark red. The half¬ 
timber construction and woodwork is 
oak that has weathered to black-brown. 
A shingle roof tops this structure and 
the whole effect is of a house that has 
gained its color from sun and wind. 
None is more durable than the 
brick wall. No painting is necessary 
and the mortar joints seldom need 
renewing. Windows and doors are 
easily built into brick walls. Damp¬ 
ness will, however, strike through the 
mortar joints, unless an air chamber 
is arranged between the brick and in¬ 
side plaster, so that a well construct¬ 
ed brick wall either should be put on 
hollow tile, or the lath should be held 
away by vertical pieces of wood or 
metal, called furring strips. 
