A PERFECT BRICK ARCH

Ah.
This is what I'm talking about.

This four family is on my block and was rehabbed by the delightful Codd Brothers. (Bill, please note I didn't say Cobb) It retains the original doors (even though they've been painted) but check out that perfect arch! Click on the photo to enlarge and feast your eyes on the fabulous ornamental terra cotta that rides the arch and enjoy the perfectly placed and bolted stars.

I get to look at this daily. Eat your heart out.

What was the builder thinking?

I guess the person who rehabbed the front of this building tried to make it attractive. All I see is hideous colors and effed up doors. For someone as short as I am, I would never be able to see out the peep hole...if there is one.

But check out the wonderful quoin brick corners on the building. Just hold something up to the screen to obscure the porch.

The horror.

Friend Bruk

On the coldest winter days a bundle of warmth with cold fingers arrives at my door to help me move stuff around. She hauls boxes to the car, debris to the alley, chases hangers, helps clean, gives advice, runs seams and has worked in my yard.

But these things aren't what make her invaluable.
It's that she's so worthy of love.

The front room of Bruk's home with her shine to music.


Here's Bruk in her studio


Some of the shirts:

Uniform shirt for Bruk's band MAIDRITE

Vintage 40's cotton patch

Her Rodeo Revival label

CLICK ON THE POST TITLE TO VISIT BRUK'S BLOG.

SCORCHED & CHISELED BRICK

Of course it's not scorched and the dark areas of these bricks were probably caused by pollution but it's late and my creativity at naming bricks at this hour has waned.
Check out the phenomenal dimension to these bricks:


Losing mortar


Because Cena never knows what I'm talking about when I say face brick.
It's on the front of the building and faces the street, see?

Poor terra cotta pyramid details are succumbing to weather erosion.

MY QUEST FOR THE PERFECT ARTS & CRAFTS BUNGALOW

I'm on a bit of a quest, the perfect Arts and Crafts bungalow for relocation.
These photos are from the 4100 block of Utah. I've been watching this block for some time: all single family homes and quick access to McDonald Park.

First choice, right across from McDonald Park:



Love this:

INDUSTRIAL BUILDING MID TOWN

I don't want to believe that was the original design. Bricked up arched windows?
I simply must ask Dave Lewis 'sup with this...

Dave responds:
Prolly not windows, since they would be almost in the parapet wall. More likely a design element that reduces the weight of the wall that hangs beyond the part of the wall that's supported all the way down. It reduces the weight on the lintel over the openings. It looks like a column was added (new brick) somewhere along the way.

GEOMETRIC BRICK!

Here's a recent score that I came across while motoring through an industrial area just north of Manchester. Check out how the mortar mix slipped into the small edges of the brick. I love that.

This photo is of the sill of the building where soot and dirt has gathered and defined the design:

ASH PITS

We (as every house in the city) had an ash pit on the back lot of our house at 3964 McDonald. They were used to burn household rubbish and garbage.

Once that was outlawed (along with burning leaves which was tragic, the smell was wonderful and announced autumn) People took sledge hammers to the pits and opened the side facing the alley. The resulting platform became a staging area for aluminum trash cans.

The cans (subjected to rats ad other vermin) were replaced by the dumpsters in the late 70's.

I do encourage everyone to have the experience of smelling burning leaves, just a couple.


Here's Beau, hot on the trail of a scent:

BLACK IS GETTING BLACKER

Did you hear about Blacker than Black on NPR?
If not, click on the title above.

Presenting glazed matte black brick.
This makes life even more supreme!

ACTION BRICKS!

These are my most favorite bricks in the whole wide world and I'm in brick heaven.
I'm calling them Action Bricks because they evoke the work of action painter, Jackson Pollack.

Revel in the fancy brick work on this factory building, oh mama!

Turned on corners:

Each brick is unique:

NOBODIES HOME PART TWO

Abandoned wasp nest pretending to be an incoming meteorite.

Not a wasp nest but wannbe rock.

MUM'S THE WORD

I first saw this billboard on Morgan Ford Road. It's since migrated to Natural Bridge in north city.

Lawyer up, dude and you'll get corporate logo branding via the black cap.
I find this extremely offensive.

WAVY GRAVY

I suppose I could embrace all face brick with glee but these glazed bricks are increasingly troubling. I like a rough surface be it pocked, pleated, smeared, whatever. Smooth bricks are beginning to give me the willies.

Consider them snubbed but I will continue to document them out of respect for their family.


I simply adore the rare address in the limestone!

This surface crumbling of glazed brick is becoming rampant and not just in TGS.

REAR WINDOW

Rare, but there's a few in the neighborhood: Homes built on the rear of the Lot. Sometimes these were built so the residents could live in them while the Big House was being built up front. I doubt that's the case here since the sidewalk looks original and runs straight back.

View from alley

MY FRIEND THE WITCH DOCTOR

What you see here is what I have referred to for decades as catholic voodoo. It's the cross from a rosary that reads, I am a Catholic in case of an accident notify a priest.

I bought it in a thrift store about 15 years ago just for the blue crystal beads and silver filigree stampings. A woman standing next to me at the counter asked me if I was a Catholic. I told her I was going to use the beads for jewelry.

That's sacrilegious, she exclaimed.
You're being superstitious, I told her.

Oh crap, my face is reflected in the top of the cross, there's NO escape!

I am an atheist in case of an accident notify a doctor.