Bricks

By Ann Dean

BRICKS AND BRICK BUILDINGS

A PAPER

read at a meeting of the

St Albans
Architectural and Archaeological Society

April 11th 1855

by
Richard Gee MA
A Member of the Society

I had thought of calling this paper an "Apology for Bricks". Certainly I intended to begin the paper with an apology for its subject. It seemed to me that I had taken up, what many might consider, very vulgar materials. I believed that the idea which some have of bricks is, that they are as ugly as they are indis­pensable. We know very well that in this part of England there are many buildings which we cannot afford to build of stone, and which are not ornamental enough for the genius of stucco. The union, the factory, the barracks, the peasant's cottage, and the sub­stantial business-premises, we should all agree, must in Hertfordshire, be of brick, or of brick and flint. But did circumstances lead us to build for ourselves, we should think of some more ambitious material. We consider ourselves aggrieved when our neighbour brings his bricks too near us. There are few of us who would not think his view spoilt by the introduc­tion of what we call an " ugly, staring, red brick house" right into its foreground. Now, on all these points I shall attempt to say something presently. I shall be very careful not to ride a hobby to death. I will try not to injure a good case by overstatement. I would, however, first mention in all sincerity that I now feel that the apology of which I spoke, should be made for myself, and not for my subject. Since I have opened a few books and tried to steal the results of other men's labours, I have come to think that a paper on bricks and brick-buildings might, without any condescension, be written by the first architect of the day. Ile would have occasion, in the course of his remarks, to notice some of the finest buildings in this, and in other countries. I believe that he would do immense good by showing men that the beauty of a building is less dependent upon its material than upon anything else whatever about it. Outline, proportion, light, shade, suitableness to the purpose, are all points which appeal more forcibly to the eye of the connoisseur. These same considerations sway the judgment of those who are not aware of the principles on which they admire or disapprove.

I would like to begin at the beginning, and at least attempt to proceed methodically. I have no doubt my remarks will be sufficiently desultory to take off any appearance of stiffness in my arrangement. I will, first, set out the derivation and definition of a brick, that we may fix our subject. Then, as the con­stitution of this society seems to suggest, we will consider, the antiquities of brick-the architecture of bricks, and the economics of bricks. I shall be proud, indeed, if I can teach any of my hearers in a matter in which, it I set to work to get up this paper, I was myself so profoundly ignorant. The derivation of the word will not assist us much to ascertain the meaning of the term. Brick, as a name, came to us, no doubt, through the continental languages, either from the French "brique", or, more probably, from the Dutch "briicks", for the Flemish bricks were early imported into this country. These foreign words were themselves derived from a low Latin word "brica", and that, Menage says, was from imbricare, or,"ab imbre tegere". Whether correct or not, we are not helped by this to any other meaning than that of shelter. I would start as a definition of brick, that it is - earth, moulded for building purposes. I do not say earth baked or burned, for I must re-member that there are such things as sun-dried bricks. And by "moulded" I do not consider the term limited to bricks cast in a mould, as, I daresay, there have been such things as bricks moulded by the hands, to the size and shape required. I do not intend to in­clude in my paper any notice of the roof tile which is first cousin to the building brick, nor yet of the paving tile, which, you may remember, at King's Langley they called a "flowered brick", and which, certainly, seems to be a "genteel relation" of the builder's. But you see, from the wide description taken up, how primitive and natural a material is the brick. In large alluvial plains the water overflows, and fattens, and stiffens the soil, and the force of the current