41 HARTFORD BRICK DUPLEX

Hmm. I've always thought this house was a duplex until this moment of typing. It's because of those double porches. I've always assumed that was two interior doors inside with one that led upstairs.

Aha, two mail boxes!

Sweetness. That's the original arched wood door with a half halo of bricks on the top and a door cornice!

I love the way the little arch on the bottom of the porch resonates with the overall design. Mel told me she saw a frozen stream of water 'pouring' out of it a few weeks ago.
Solider course bricks along the top of the porch wall and check out the range of colors to the bricks. Yummy.

COPPER ROOF

I love this copper roof on 40 Hartford!

Once it gets that patina it's sealed for life. No repairs. Just walk away, Renee.

POETIC BRICK WALL

I like to pretend that the builder wanted to show off his appreciation for these bricks by creating this wall sculpture just for me to enjoy along with him. Chances are these were surplus bricks bought at a discount.

I don't care. I am digging the wall like a big bad dog with a bone!

Spotted in Arnold at a low rent strip mall.

RILEY'S WALL FELL DOWN

Riley's, corner of Arsenal and Arkansas in TGE.
What's behind the face bricks (or not).

DAMN, dude! Tossing bricks on the roof?
Seriously, I watched as the guy threw bricks over the tiles onto the roof.


DOUBLE DAMN, dude! Don't place that ladder on the falling wall! Go above the coping tiles and use a ladder stabilizer on this windy day!


Plaster lined chimney chase

38 HUMPHREY

I keep trying to imagine what the original woodwork looked like before it was demoed.

Killer brick work: corbels and cornice


Phenomenal glazed white coping tiles.

As I was taking this last photo the owner of the building pulled up. We chatted. I asked her if she did that vinyl siding, she said she'd never really noticed it and that the guy she bought it from 'fixed' it.

Glazed white bricks are crumbling in TGS

I've noticed many glazed white bricks are spalling in TGS. I haven't noticed this happening with the other color glazed bricks.

This is what is occurring: Rain gets in behind the fired front through the mortar joints. The expansion of freezing water breaches the top surface of the brick, leaving the inner surface exposed. The interior of these bricks were not fired and are beginning to crumble. With the surfaces opened up to water, and they will act like big sponges. They will eventually crumble completely.

How can these bricks be repaired?

Here's a photo of Gen Obata's porch in TGH that he just emailed for illustration.

ILLUSTRATED TRIANGLES

Head

Ear

Foot pad

COLONIZATION

I'm rather proud that I was able to take this photo when doing 60 down 55.

These are cedar trees and they are the first tree to colonize any rocky area that has been clear cut because of their shallow roots. This photo shows about fifteen years of growth.

Something to look forward to is the reforestation that will occur in 125 years.

Clouds at 141 and 55

ARTS AND CRAFTS

This is a view of the second floor of my two family building. I don't have this woodwork downstairs but I have quicker access to the back yard which Beau appreciates.

BLACK & PLUM BRICKS!

Here's an astonishing find: black and plum color bricks on a side of a 50's building in TGS. I've named these skid mark bricks.

Added bonus is the original mortar mix with pebbles. BRAVA!

BLACK BRICK

We must revisit these bricks which are of course my favorites!

This is some seriously heady stuff. From a distance of twenty feet they look solid black. Getting closer reveals various values of black with plum and blue.

How were these created? It had to do with the oxidizing conditions in the kiln, and creating sudden temperature increases in a process known as flashing.

Common constituents were added to the clay mixture to produce colors. This brick may have had iron oxide with manganese oxide added. Vegetable materials were also added with a sudden temperature increase.

People wonder why I'm always happy.

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.]

GARAGE ON OAK HILL CALLED BY BAD TIM

Perplexed about the style of architecture with this garage, I emailed my crony Bad Tim the Architect with the query.

Me: What the hell is this?
Tim: It's post-modern. it's a cheap and lazy version of neo-classical, intended to seem whimsical or ironic, but now mostly looking ridiculous.

Oh thanks. I spent years as a child admiring it but now the deal is queered.

KNOCK, KNOCK!

Who's there?
DADDY!
Daddy who?
Leather queen.
Huh?
Land shark...

Ack! Fake shutters.

TOP TEN BRICK PICKS OF 2007

Accordion brick.
Best of Show.


Black pitted brick pix'd at dusk.
1st place.


Bordered brick with pink mortar and tiny pebbles.
Second place.


Mixed color drag face bricks.
Third Place.
Of the group of photos below the charcoal color brick takes first place.


Gold brick pitted with black.
Honorable mention:

Cross hatch face brick with crappy mortar job.
Best design element.

Distressed brick with charcoal color, Morgan Ford Road.
Most Creative presentation:

Chunky 3-D brick located on the column at Connecticut and Roger.
Most formidable.


Red and Green Glazed brick.
Best seasonal presentation.