Charlie,
I certainly agree with you that, in Chicago, many homes were built with
common brick on the sides and back and face brick on the front. Many
examples can still be seen in such areas as the homes along 55th street
just west of Midway Airport. A lot of apartment buildings were
constructed with the same arrangement. My parents home in Downers
Grove, however, which was built right after WWII, was entirely
constructed of common brick. I don't know if it was "Chicago" or not.
Some other homes in our neighborhood were built the same way. When Dad
added onto the home in 1957, he again specified common brick to
maintain a consistent appearance.
While on the subject of paver bricks, many towns in the midwest,
including many in the Chicago area, had brick streets for years,
including Chicago, itself. A few of these still exist, but many have
been paved over with asphalt. In Downers Grove, there are a couple of
side streets that are still brick. Some of those are Puringtons. I can
recall the bricks used in Chicago on streets that had streetcar tracks.
A lot of the brick paved streets were installed in the 1920s and '30s
and many survived intact into the '50s and '60s. They were a fairly
durable roadway, but were labor intensive to install. However, in the
'30s when jobs were scarce, labor was easy to find if the town had
money to pave streets. I am sure the the WPA and other programs helped
that along.
Bill Barber
On Saturday, March 12, 2005, at 03:11 AM, CBQ@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:35:23 -0600
> From: "Charlie Vlk" <cvlk@comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: Bricks
>
> Used bricks out of Chicago are not all "Chicago Common".... although
> the
> used market is the only way to get genuine "Chicago Common" brick
> nowadays.
> Buildings in Chicago used bricks from all over the US, not just the
> local
> "Chicago Common". It has been about 40 years since I toured a
> brickyard on
> the South Side that was making "Chicago Common" brick so I don't
> remember if
> that was the only yard that produced that brick or if similar ones
> were made
> by other yards in the Chicago area from the same clay deposit layer.
> "Chicago Common" is a yellow/buff colored brick, coal fired (although
> IIRC
> at time our architecture class visited the yard they were firing with
> natural gas). It is called "Chicago" from the locality it was made,
> and
> "Common" as it is a cut brick (the clay is formed by cutting with wire
> to
> size on machines. "Face" brick is often formed by pressing the clay
> into
> forms and is sometimes referred to as "Pressed" brick.
> "Chicago Common" was often used for the sides and rear walls of a
> building,
> with the front being made from face brick or stone or a combination
> thereof.
> It was not hard enough to use as "Pavers" and I don't know if any clay
> deposits in the Chicago proper area were suitable for such bricks as
> were
> the clays around Galesburg, or if it is just a difference in the
> firing time
> and technique that makes a brick hard enough to be a paver (besides the
> difference in sizes).
> There used to be brickworks in many locations around Chicago (and I
> presume
> many cities) until the economies of the industry changed and
> consolidation
> to a few major plants in each region took place.
> This consolidation was of some benefit to the railroads as the product
> had
> to be shipped over longer distances. Face brick is selected by the
> owner
> and architect based on its color, size, and other characteristics and
> normally is used sparingly because of its cost except on very important
> buildings (railroad depots and public buildings, for example). Even
> homes
> usually used the fancy brick only on the street sides and the unexposed
> side(s) and rear were local "common" brick.
> Thanks,
> Charlie Vlk
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