[MassHistPres] Seeking examples of carved brick terra cotta

[Scott A. Winkler, AIA]

Hi Sara -

I am assuming you are referring to brickwork carved in place on the building
facade, commonly called "carved brickwork" vs. "molded ornamental brickwork"
which are bricks which are molded into a decorative pattern or image before
firing and not carved afterwords.

Typically this was brick, not terra cotta, which is similar to brick but is
a much finer clay mixture with fewer impurities and is fired at a much
higher temperature than brick.  Terra cotta is also often molded with
substantial voids on the back side or in the middle to control the greater
shrinkage associated with the higher firing temperature.  Ornamental terra
cotta normally had the ornament applied before firing.

I am not sure I can give you specific local examples, but I do know that it
was used for a much wider period of time than you think.  It was actually
more common in finer houses and commercial buildings in England starting in
the 17th and 18th centuries.  You will find limited examples and information
in a book called "English Brickwork" by R. W. Brunskill and Alec
Clifton-Taylor.

I have also seen some American examples from the 1920's and 1920's featuring
art deco carved brick relief.

The Belden Brick company still produces custom carved brick murals today.
Here are a couple of links to their work:
http://www.traditional-building.com/images8/larger/10feb235.htm
http://www.traditional-building.com/images8/larger/09feb223.htm
http://www.traditional-building.com/images8/larger/09apr151.htm
http://www.traditional-building.com/images8/larger/09jun99.htm
http://www.traditional-building.com/images8/larger/10apr136.htm

Sorry I can't direct you to any specific historical examples.

Good Luck!



-- 
Scott A. Winkler, AIA, LEED AP

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:13:18 -0500
> From: "SARA WERMIEL" <swermiel at verizon.net>
> Subject: [MassHistPres] Seeking examples of carved brick terra cotta
> To: <MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu>
> Message-ID: <000001cbbb29$367631c0$a3629540$@net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> For a paper I'm writing on a material called "carved brick," I am looking
> for examples on the walls of buildings. This material was used around
> 1876-80. It is a kind of terra cotta, but differs from molded terra cotta
> in
> that it was made of individual, (usually) brick-shaped clay units, so you
> can see the mortar joints of the units, and the carving crossed the units.
> It was not commonly used, was soon replaced with molded terra cotta, but
> some examples have turned up.
>
> If you've seen something that fits this description, please let me know.
>
> Much obliged,
>
> Sara Wermiel
>
>
>
> ___________________________________________
>
> Sara E. Wermiel, PhD
>
> History of technology/historic preservation consulting
>
> 70A South Street
>
> Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 USA
>
> 617 524-9483
>
>
>
>

-- 
Scott A. Winkler, AIA, LEED AP
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20110124/317c3fd1/attachment-0001.htm>