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The mission of the Historic Resources Committee (HRC) is to identify, understand, and preserve architectural heritage, both nationally and internationally. HRC is engaged in promoting the role of the historic architect within the profession through the development of information and knowledge among members, allied professional organizations, and the public.

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Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

  • 1.  Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-15-2018 05:54 PM
    From Kathryn Howes Barth, Preservation Architect, Boulder Colorado. We've been trying to save this building from demolition. Owners withdrew application to demo, so we have a reprieve.
    This building, identified as an English Tudor, was built in 1928.  The detailing: corbeling, arches, lintels, in the massive chimney all feature what appear to be thin cut terra cotta roof tiles which are used in a decorative way.
    Two brothers (their father was a Master Mason, and they followed in his footsteps) enlisted in WWI and served in France as part of the Engineering Corp.  Are these details something they could have seen in northern France?
    Does anyone have information about this type of detailing?  Thank you. 

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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 2.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-16-2018 05:37 PM
    ​The plain clay roof tile and lime mortar features (the English call this "tile creasing") used for gable eave stop corbels, arched openings etc., are common features of both 17th-18th century English vernacular rural architecture (in the counties of Sussex and Kent) and of Arts and Crafts revival practices at the end of the 19th century / early 20th century.

    Details can be found in Volume 2 of W. B. McKay's "Building Construction," in Ron Brunskill's "Handbook of Vernacular Architecture," and most probably in Alec Clifton Taylor's "Pattern of English Building"

    John Fidler (Englishman).

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    John Fidler Intl. Assoc. AIA
    President & Chief Technical Officer
    John Fidler Preservation Technology
    Marina Del Rey CA
    ------------------------------

    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 3.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-18-2018 10:49 AM
    I've seen thin tiles used as window "eyebrows" in early 20th Century residences designed by C.F.A. Voysey, & very occasionally by E. Lutyens in his less formal residences. 

    Carl J. Handman, AIA
    A      R      C      H      I      T      E      C      T       
    98 East Walnut Street  Kingston, PA 18704      

    P: 570-287-1717               F: 570-287-7368                        



    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 4.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-16-2018 05:56 PM
    I cannot say that I am familiar with these details, but they are very interesting and glad that you shared the photographs. I looks like you have some real help with Mr. Fidler's response and references. The brick arches appear to be in good condition, is that correct? Hope that they can continue to be in use and not removed for a modern renovation. Great visual lesson in creative use of masonry and adapting other cultures to local uses. Thanks.

    ------------------------------
    Sherman Aronson AIA
    BLT Architects
    Philadelphia PA
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 5.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-16-2018 06:08 PM
    I've seen details like this in the UK, where tiles are used as decorative and structural elements in brick walls, but not in France.  The buildings I saw dated from the 16th to the 17th centuries, but use of this technique probably varies with region and age.  The ancient Romans also utilized tiles laid flat in brick and concrete walls - opus testaceum is one type.

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    Marsha Levy AIA
    Boca Raton FL
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 6.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-17-2018 03:27 PM
      |   view attached

    I agree that your best resource may be Mr. Fidler.  I just wanted to share that several years ago, before digital camera, I visited Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.  You may recall that Eliel Saarinan lived and taught there for many years.  The Academy is equipped with shops capable of creating many construction materials including metals and masonry.  As an Art Academy they were constantly experimenting with masonry construction building a variety of facades, fences, niches, full building and their entry gate.  I'm certain that I saw similar details in these masonry structures.  The entry gate for instance has a construction date of 1927 and the medallions located to the right and left of the arch on both sides for the entry gate have thin pieces of masonry set in the center.  I've attached one image scanned from a print.  It illustrates one example of the masonry experiments.  Other images may be found by just Googling Brickwork at Cranbrook Academy.  

    As another option, and since Cranbrook also has an architecture curriculum, you may find shop drawings of their masonry experiments by contacting the Academy.



    ------------------------------
    Jerry Berggren AIA
    Berggren Architects
    Lincoln NE
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    Attachment(s)

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    Cranbrook Brickwork.pdf   394 KB 1 version
    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 7.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-21-2018 05:20 PM
    I likewise heard from a colleague that this is a common detail in the UK.  Another colleague thought she'd spotted something similar in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, a neighborhood with many old structures and an NHL district for its colonial buildings along the main street, Germantown Avenue.  If I come across anything more  specific, I'll reply directly.

    Kathy Dowdell, AIA
    Farragut Street Architects



    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 8.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-23-2018 01:25 PM
    The tiles integrated into brick or stone masonry are known as creasing tiles

    Creasing tiles are single cambered, nibless clay plain tiles and can be used for cappings or copings to walls and sills. Their decorative design can be used in corbelling, arches, chimneys and decorative quoins and their weatherproof properties make them ideal for use as damp proof coursing.

    At least as far back as Roman times, masonry construction in England incorporated courses of clay brick or tile.  Its density and impermeability is useful in stopping rising damp traveling up through a wall.  Slate can also be used this way.  You'll find creasing tiles used to infill the spaces between timber frames in both England and Normandy. They were used to excellent decorative effect in the work of Edwin Lutyens - Thousands of WWI servicemen from cities all over the US would have been exposed to European vernacular architecture and hundreds were part of a vocational training program in architecture, drafting and design initiated by the military at the Bellevue Art Training School outside of Paris after the signing of the armistice but prior to returning home.
    I think it explains something about the abilities of the designers of the period after WWI.


    David Ellison, Architect

    The D. H. Ellison Co.
    2002 W. 41st St.
    Cleveland, OH  44113

    216-631-0557



    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 9.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-27-2018 05:19 PM
     
    A book with some beautiful work, especially like the student "sketch problems", wow.
    Thanks for sharing this resource.
     
    Sherman Aronson
     
     
     
    Sherman C. Aronson, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
    Senior Associate
     
        
       
    1216 Arch Street
    Philadelphia, PA  19107‑2835
    Tel: 215 563 3900 Ext: 124
     
     
     


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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 10.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-21-2018 04:23 PM
    Kathryn,

    I have seen similar details in the Country Club Historic Neighborhood in Denver. This from our Design Review application:


    "Originally built for Genevieve Kassler and Sydney L. Brock, Jr., this 1928 home was designed by Merrill & Burnham Hoyt in the French Normandy style".

    Happy to share my research on the project. Attached are a few photos and good luck w/ the save.
    <attachment></attachment>

    ------------------------------
    Gene Greene AIA
    Principal, Historic Architect
    Studio Greene, LLC
    Littleton CO
    ------------------------------

    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 11.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-23-2018 01:28 PM
    The tiles integrated into brick or stone masonry are known as creasing tiles
     
    Creasing tiles are single cambered, nibless clay plain tiles and can be used for cappings or copings to walls and sills. Their decorative design can be used in corbelling, arches, chimneys and decorative quoins and their weatherproof properties make them ideal for use as damp proof coursing.
     
    At least as far back as Roman times, masonry construction in England incorporated courses of clay brick or tile.  Its density and impermeability is useful in stopping rising damp traveling up through a wall.  Slate can also be used this way.  You'll find creasing tiles used to infill the spaces between timber frames in both England and Normandy. They were used to excellent decorative effect in the work of Edwin Lutyens - Thousands of WWI servicemen from cities all over the US would have been exposed to European vernacular architecture and hundreds were part of a vocational training program in architecture, drafting and design initiated by the military at the Bellevue Art Training School outside of Paris after the signing of the armistice but prior to returning home.
    I think it explains something about the abilities of the designers of the period after WWI.
     


    ------------------------------
    David Ellison AIA
    Principal
    The D.H. Ellison Co.
    Cleveland OH
    ------------------------------

    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 12.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-29-2018 07:54 PM
    Yes, you can find this in France.  Especially in the Normandy and Brittany areas.  The historic construction was a colombage (heavy timber) framing system with a mass infill like earth, stone, brick, tile or slate.  Sometimes a combination of these different types of mass infill.  This was a typical construction technique of the Romans who were in this area earlier.  I have also seen this in others countries in Europe.

    ------------------------------
    Edward Cazayoux FAIA
    Principal/Architect
    EnvironMental Design
    Breaux Bridge LA
    ------------------------------

    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 13.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-28-2018 05:43 PM
    ​Thank you all for this information. I've never seen details like these.

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    Christina Schessler AIA
    McKinley & Associates, Inc.
    Wheeling WV
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 14.  RE: Is anyone Familiar with brick details like these?

    Posted 08-29-2018 06:19 PM
    I have seen these used in Mexico and even here in San Antonio and South Texas. O'Neil Ford was very good at using the square Saltillo Tile produced in Mexico and here in the region as caps top parapet walls, voussoirs in arches or at the spring line.  Even in details such as you show in the photos.

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    Killis Almond FAIA
    President
    Killis Almond Architects, P.C.
    San Antonio TX
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West