The old Roman authority on architecture, Vitruvius, long ago laid down the three fundamentals of all good building, viz., firmness, utility, and charm. In working for firmness (strength, durability) and for utility (serviceableness, convenience), the builder, we might say, is an engineer; in seeking to give charm (attractiveness, beauty) to his work, he is an artist. In other words, the builder always has before him structural and artistic problems which, aside from his wit in planning the inner conveniences and serviceableness of the house, depend largely upon the material he chooses to work in. To what extent does this material meet the structural requirements of strength, permanence, durability, and to what extent the artistic requirements of attractiveness, charm, beauty, are the main issues.
Aim of This Book
This book is meant not only to show how perfectly brick, as a building material, meets all of these requirements, but to serve as a Manual for the master carpenter builder in offering various designs and plans of face brick houses, and in pointing out the practical methods of constructing either the solid brick, hollow tile, or veneered wall.
In fact, the book in many ways will be of use to the mason who will doubtless find in it helpful suggestions on the application of his craft to the problems of building.
Before giving briefly the reasons for the use of face brick, a word about the history of brick and its manufacture may be of interest.
[THE STORY OF BRICK]
The manufacture and use of brick go back to the remotest antiquity, far beyond the earliest recorded history, which is supposed to be about 3,800 B. C, the date of a clay tablet assigned to the age of Sargon of Akkad, founder of the Chaldean dynasty, fully two thousand years before the time of Abraham.
Babylonian Origin
Naturally the use of brick originated where clay, of which they are made, was abundant; and there is every reason to believe that the brick industry had its beginning in the broad alluvial valley of the Euphrates which is the traditional cradle of human civilization. At any rate, according to one authority, good brick have been taken from excavations in old Babylonia, dating back to 4,500 B. C, as good as the day they were made. And the same authority adds that brickmaking was doubtless practiced ten thousand years ago. It was Nature that gave the hint, for the sun hardened the mud along the river bank and cracked it into irregular pieces which the native could utilize, after shaping them to the desired size, for piling up in the walls of his crude hut. It was an easy step in advance to shape the mud beforehand while soft and lay it out in the sun to bake. This produced what we call adobe brick, afterwards greatly improved by mixing chopped reeds or straw with the soft mud before baking. It will be remembered how the Egyptian Pharaoh embittered the slavery of the children of Israel by compelling them to find their own straw for the brick they were required to make. At a very early date the dwellers in the Euphrates valley learned to burn brick, as indicated by the biblical story of the Tower of Babel; and by the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian king (604-562 B. C), not only were well-burned brick made and used extensively, but colored enamels were successfully applied for decorative effects. Considerable remains of this ancient brickwork are still found, although for many centuries the ruined cities of the Mesopotamian plain were used as sources of building material for the more modern cities which have since come into being.