[MassHistPres] Fwd: Re: Brick nogging

Tue Feb 2 14:10:26 EST 2010

Here's a pic of plaster/whitewash applied directly to nogging in a house
in Albany, NY, dating to 1728.

Walter Richard Wheeler

Senior Architectural Historian

Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc.

1744 Washington Avenue Extension

Rensselaer, New York 12144

518.283.0534

________________________________

From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of bmangum411
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 10:26 AM
To: Masshistpres
Subject: [MassHistPres] Fwd: Re: Brick nogging

In Somerville, there was a circa 1860 house (the William Jaques house)
that had brick nogging similar to that in the Brookline example.  The
nogging went from the first floor up through the second story to the
roof level architecture jaques house.jpg
on all sides.  A picture of the house is attached.  

William Jaques was the son of Col. Samuel Jaques, a colorful character
who was a construction supervisor on the Middlesex Canal project, a
founder of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and friend of Daniel
Webster.  He came from an old  Yankee stock of which he was very proud.
Colonel Jacques bought the Temple House and 160 acres of Ten Hills Farm
in 1832  and although he farmed this with his sons and daughters, he
also produce brick.  The William Jaques house, which was located on the
acreage of Ten Hills Farm came to the Somerville Historic Preservation
Commission's  interest in 2004 as it was slated to be demolished.
Attempts were made to have the house moved, but eventually it was
subject to arson and destroyed.  I might add that the first attempt at
arson did not cause enough damage to completely destroy the house and it
was arsoned again the following week.  Perhaps this is a case for the
nogging being a useful fire preventative measure.

Barbara Mangum

Begin forwarded message:

From:

"Dennis De Witt" <djd184 at verizon.net>

Subject:

Re: [MassHistPres] Brick nogging

Date:

January 29, 2010 2:05:49 PM EST

To:

"MHC MHC listserve" <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>

Attachments:

1 Attachment, 450.0 KB

	Attached is a ca. late-18th -- early 19th. C example from
Brookline -- visiting experts found it hard to date.  The frame was
never exposed, but note the gunstock post.  Timbers seemed to be
Chestnut.  The house looked from the outside like a modest 1860s mansard
further modified ca. 1900 and was believed to have been moved.  By the
time the formal demo app was made & anyone bothered to look inside --
and discovered the boxed corner posts -- the development process for the
property was too far down the line to save the house in the face of an
unsympathetic pro-development establishment.

	Had it been identified earlier, so that preservation had a seat
at the planning board process, its site might not now be three parking
spaces in the corner of a condo project parking lot.

	Instead, all that we got out of it was documentation.

	Dennis De Witt

	=

	On Jan 29, 2010, at 1:13 PM, Zimmerman Sally wrote:

	Re: English building practices and brick infill, Abbott
Cummings, Framed Houses of Mass. Bay, p. 11 states: "The use of brick
for the infilling of walls, often in herringbone patterns, did not
become in any sense widespread in England until the seventeenth
century."

	Whether nogging reflects this decorative use, I would defer to
Cummings' reticence to ascribe the practice here to an English practice,
but that nogging here is deliberate and not a way to dispose of
construction refuse is a certainty.

	Sally Zimmerman

	Preservation Specialist

	Historic Homeowner Program

	185 Lyman Street

	Waltham, MA 02452-5645

	New Phone Contact:

	(617) 994-6644 Direct

	>>> rebecca mitchell <rufusrulesok at hotmail.com> 1/29/2010 1:01
PM >>>
	James Garvin's Building History of Northern New England has a
good photograph and brief discussion of brick nogging on p. 53.  When a
north wall of my house (c 1725) was opened for a sill repair we
discovered nogging of bricks (whole and broken) and clay.  In addition
to the reasons already raised (insulation, fire retarding) I have
wondered if the practice might have been simply a vestige of English
building practice.  It seems more deliberate than simply a means to
dispose of construction refuse.

	Rebecca Mitchell

	200 Portsmouth Ave.

	Stratham, NH 03885

	(603) PRimrose 8-7979

	> From: masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu
	> Subject: MassHistPres Digest, Vol 47, Issue 30
	> To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
	> Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:00:02 -0500
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	> 1. Reason fro brick nogging (Anne Grady)
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	> Message: 1
	> Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:46:31 -0500
	> From: Anne Grady <agrady at eonconnect.com>
	> Subject: [MassHistPres] Reason fro brick nogging
	> To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
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	> 
	> I concur with the previous writers that the reasons for
filling walls with brick were probably for insulation and protection
from vermin, but I have never read anything written in the 17th or 18th
centuries about the reasons. I remember Abbott Cummings being asked once
about brick nogging. He said wasn't certain, but pointed out the great
need for insulation. He cited a quote from Judge Samuel Sewall, who
said, "The ink froze in my inkwell, though I write by a good fire in my
wife's chamber."
	> 
	> Anne
	> 
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