Holy Family

I attended Holy Family grade school (now Marian Middle School) in Tower Grove South. My favorite room was the third floor library which I had little access to, it was rarely open. I didn't know the room existed until I was in the sixth grade.


My infatuation with abstract expressionist painters Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt has roots here:





Rothko painting (he was a brick groupie too):

Diamond Brick

I've found two houses in TGS with these elusive diamond bricks.
Fabulous engraved limestone.

Afflicted with the Flue

Art Deco meets gingerbread in the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood.

I've been stalking this house for years!

Today as I was stalking it I noticed a car parked smack dab in front of it and concluded the owner was in.
I rang the bell, a woman appeared in the door and I suddenly realized I hadn't practiced my usual Hi, I'm not a Scientologist or a Mormon greeting.

She tolerated my overt enthusiasm as she opened the door and answered my questions.

I had imagined the tower was a fireplace and the small glass windows around it allowed for flickering light. No, it's the flue for the furnace in the basement.
Get this, she paid 130,000 for it 7 years ago.

Not the original storm door but check out that oak door.

Flashing (not original) was added to the stained glass windows perhaps to protect the wood frames. Bummer.

'Sponge' brick. Dreamy.

Accordion/Pyramid Brick

Here's a first: A house that used both accordion and pyramid brick.
These photos are from one column on a house in Tower Grove South.

Right above the accordion brick is a course of pyramid brick. Crazy! The mortar is a marvel.


This mortar had to have been hand tooled and pushed into place.

Multi Color Granular Brick

These bricks are my current favorite.
The surface presents as rough as the mortar which was finger tooled in places to accommodate the brick face. I love that!

Each of these bricks have two or more colors.
Click on the photo to enlarge, the white mortar makes the colors pop.

For Sonrie: Gray & green glaze bricks

Hey Sonrie:

I found this photo in my files. It's from 39 Connecticut here in TGS between Roger and Gustine. I recommend a stroll along this block, the brickwork is fabulous.

The photo serves to illustrate the use of face brick.
Called face brick because these ornate bricks faced the street and regular red brick was used on the sides and back of the buildings.

Click to enlarge, these are killer gray bricks.

Astounding 3-D brick house

I was driving along south Kingshighway this afternoon when I spotted a massive Art Deco building (more on that later). I took a turn to view the back of it and landed on the corner of King's Drive and West Court where I nearly swooned from excitement.

I discovered these three outrageous brick homes:

The two to the right are certainly prizes but the first (with the silver car in the drive way) had me literally screaming (sotto voice) with glee on the street.

I heard some noise from the back yard and introduced myself to the owner who told me all three houses had been built by one stone mason. The owner had lived 75 feet away from this house and stalked it for years. Then, during an estate sale at the home, he made an offer.


The red wire cut bricks extend 1.5 inches and along with the cast shadows boost the diamond pattern.

ST. LOUIS BRICK CONFIDENTIAL

Ah, the elegance!

I wondered if there was a term for bricks turned in this manner so I e-buzzed the exquisite Dave Lewis with my question:
Dave, since we were once madly in love and you still publicly acknowledge me by calling me your Ex, could you kindly tell me if there is a name or term for the way these bricks were placed?

His response:
Well, sort of. This is just ornament; creative use of regular brick. Brick standing on end and showing the sides are called "soldiers", so you might well see a "soldier course" laid up in a wall. Brick laid on end with the full, flat (largest) side showing would be a "sailor", but these are far less common.

So I think these would be soldiers, since the whole side is showing, but not the full flat face. It does add some elegance to the structure, don't you think? Ohhhh, those shadows are soooo important! I wonder if the architect took the orientation of the building into account.

Steve Wilke-Shapiro, care to comment?


I'll always love you Dave (while coveting your Jadeite collection, Oh, Mama!

REDBRICK

Perhaps this explains my fascination with face brick.

Enclosed in an email from Pat Fish:

From: Wordsmith
Date: January 21, 2008 9:02:24 PM PST
To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--redbrick

This week's theme: words with color as metaphors.

redbrick (RED-brik) adjective

Lacking prestige.

[The term usually describes universities. A redbrick university is one built
in the UK after WWII, as opposed to the older prestigious institutions such
as Oxford and Cambridge. The term is mostly used in the UK. A contrasting
term in the US is Ivy League. An Ivy League university is one of several in
the northeastern US that have high prestige and a reputation for scholastic
achievement. The term alludes to the age of the universities reflected in
the ivy that festoons the outside walls of the buildings on campus.]