BRICKWORK. This term is not restricted to simple edifices of bricks, but includes vaulting, tracery, moulding, carving, and gauging for decorative as well as for purely structural purposes.
Brickwork may be either of sun-dried or of burnt brick. Both kinds were built at very early periods and are often found to gether, even in the same wall. Probably the choice between con struction of walls of mud (as in Peru and Mexico) or of mud bricks (sun-dried, as in ancient Egypt) depended upon the nature of the clays available.
The oldest brickwork known is the Sumerian, in the area between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Recent inves tigations at Ur have revealed brickwork earlier than the first dynasty—say before 3200 B.C., and many buildings have been uncovered of date 2100 B.C. Such brickwork has many of the characteristics of modern structures. The bond (see p. 120) is carefully kept and stability is secured by headers being carried through into a rubble core behind the brick facing. For important buildings bitumen was used for mortar, for ordinary work the bricks were bedded in mud. Lime mortar does not appear to have been used until the 7th century B.C. Several corbelled arches and vaults were found of date 2100 B.C., and a doorway which had a vaulted arch. This was built of bricks about lox 7 x 8 inches. The bricks were not cut as voussoirs but had radial (wedge shaped) joints of mud.
The enormous area of ruined brickwork at Babylon is well known. The Babylonian bricks measured 13x13x3-31in., with headers 13x6x3-3 2 inches. The joints were about 1-in. thick and were either of mud or of bitumen. Vast quantities of burnt brick were used. The towers of the Gate of Ishtar (4oft. high) built by King Nebuchadrezzar (605-562 B.c.) originally had 575 repre sentations of animals in relief. (See Plate I., fig. 1.) These were the sacred Bull of Ramman, the weather god, and the dragon of Babylon, or Sirrish. Probably the bricks modelled with these bas reliefs were made in pottery moulds and touched up with some polishing instrument before burning. The portion of the Gate of Ishtar illustrated, was carried out in burnt clay, which, like all the bricks there, is of the same yellowish brown colour as the sand around.
The Greeks used both sun-dried and burnt brickwork and it is recorded of King Agis II. of Sparta that, in 418, he dammed up the River Ophis below the town of Mantinea, through which it flowed, so that the waters sapped the walls of the town, which were built of sun-dried brick. Such brick was preferred by the ancients to burnt brick for defensive works because it was tougher, and for this reason when Mantinea was refortified sun-dried brick was again used but the river was diverted to prevent recurrence of the disaster. The use of these crude bricks for building seems gradually to have given way to brickwork in burnt brick, though instances occur in comparatively modern buildings, as in some old Norfolk cottages, where unburnt bricks are still to be found, usually in inner walls. Sun-dried bricks were used also by the Romans, and Vitruvius (engineer and architect, temp. Julius Caesar and Augustus) gives detailed instructions as to their manu facture. They were made in moulds, whilst the burnt bricks (actually large, thick tiles) were made of plastic clay, beaten flat and trimmed to rectangular shape. In England, as also elsewhere, the art seems to have died out with the fall of the Roman Empire, and until the mediaeval revival such brickwork as was built was of Roman material re-used.
The mediaeval revival developed the use of brickwork from simple structural to highly decorative pur poses. Brick units were cut first in simple forms as in the apse at Torcello, 12th century (see Plate I., fig. 2), the character of which is not Lombardic but Byzantine. The large zigzag pattern of the cornice is found also in Constantinople, in Salonika and in Italy at Padua and Murano. The bricks measure 91-x44x2iin. but large flat bricks are cut to fill the spaces under the chevrons. From these simple forms later brick-builders cut and assembled ordinary bricks into an immense variety of decorative features which passed through specially moulded brick units to all the most elaborate designs in terra cotta. In Spain, the three great brickwork districts of Aragon, Andalusia, and Castile abound in interesting examples. At Ternel, in Aragon, the House of the Templars has a cut and moulded cornice of interesting section. Here the bricks are thin (about i+in.), of a deep crimson colour, which, set in joints as thick as the bricks themselves, present a rich, glowing effect. At Tarazona is a high tower, built in stages; the arcading, panels, strings, and strapwork of which are formed almost entirely of plain, unmoulded brick; the bricks, which are large and thin, are set with wide joints. The effect close up is coarse, but at a little distance most effective. Lubeck (Schleswig Holstein), one of the principal Hanse cities, has five Gothic churches and many other important buildings built of brick, while the East end of the church at Prenzlau, Prussia, has rose window, arcading, and tracery all of the same material, forming a remarkable and beautiful achievement in brickwork. Many mediaeval French castles were of brickwork. In these diapers and patterns were often formed, not only by the use of dark headers but with bricks of different colours as long before manipulated in Italy. Plate I., fig. 5 shows a i4th century dovecote at Boos near Rouen, where the brick panels are treated in a diversity of ways by arrangement of bricks in patterns and by the use of bricks of several colourings.
War and commerce were the two chief factors in the introduction of brick into England in the mediaeval period. English knights who captured and occupied castles in France returned to England and built similar castles for themselves—frequently in brick. Tattershall Castle, Lincoln shire, c. 1431-49; Caister Castle, near Yarmouth, built after 1424, and Hurstmonceux Castle, Sussex, 1445-46, are notable instances. Whilst there can be no doubt that these popularized brickwork as a building material, its re-introduction into England was of earlier date and was actually due to commerce. The Hanseatic League, originally an association of merchants, became a federation of great cities of the Baltic and Low Countries; just that area where the scarcity of stone made brickwork universal for buildings. The origin of the Manse is remote and unknown. Lubeck, the principal Hanse city, was founded 1143. There, at Quedlinburg, and elsewhere in Prussia brickwork of the 12th cen tury is found. Norwich, Lynn, Boston and Hull were amongst the League towns in England, and, of these, Hull was the most important. Wherever the Continental agents of the League settled they seem to have introduced the art of brickmaking and building. Hull was a centre of these activities; by 1303, the corporation had its own brickyards, from which it supplied bricks. War between the League and England hindered development, but when in 1474, its privileges were restored there was a marked impetus given to building with brick in eastern and south-eastern counties, in certain districts of which brickwork almost entirely superseded stone. It must be remembered that this brickwork was not con fined to mere building of walls. The most remarkable East Anglican churches, castles and halls, in which the use of brick included every current elaboration, were erected between this date and the Reformation—a period of 50 or 6o years. Of these Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk, 1482 ; Gifford's Hall, Suffolk, early 16th century; St. Andrew's Church, Sandon, Essex, c. i 5o2 ; Layer Marney Hall and Church, Essex, c. 152o; Hampton Court Palace, c. 1520 ; Sutton Place, Guildford, Surrey, c. 1523, and Little Leez Priory, c. 1539 (Plate I., fig. 3) are conspicuous instances. The character and appearance of brickwork of this period (early 16th century) are clearly shown in Plate I., fig. 6 of the porch of Pebmarsh church.
Thus example and instruction provided by settlers from the Continent, together with the impulse of fashion set by great and powerful lords, were the primary causes of the re-introduction of brickbuilding in England. It is questionable, however, whether these alone would have been sufficient to establish the art had other necessary factors been wanting, for it is rather owing to its inherent qualities and to convenience that brickwork has so firmly established itself in public favour. Reference has been made to the fact that scarcity of stone in the Low Countries encouraged the use of brick there, and for the same reason it became almost exclusively used in some districts in England. Mention should also be made of the convenience of handling bricks, the dimen sions of which, though varying slightly at different periods and in different parts of the country, were such that a bricklayer could pick up a brick with one hand and use the other to spread mortar. A further recommendation of brickwork was its durability. Sound, well-burnt brick, set in good lime mortar, will resist the weather for centuries, even in the English climate ; indeed, the limit of its resistance has not yet been reached, for brickwork built over 60o years ago is still sound and likely to stand as much longer, providing no more destructive agency than Nature attacks it.
Although brickwork construction is often found cheaper than building in stone, the widespread belief that it is "common" or inferior to stone is incorrect. It is actually superior to stone in strength and in durability, whilst in form, colour and texture good brickwork is unrivalled. Just as the builders of castles in the i 5th century chose brickwork and even introduced the art of brickmaking into the country to obtain it, so Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII. employed it in building Hampton Court Palace (upon which they spared no expense) and Sir Christopher Wren used it for his addition there, associated with stone ; at Christ's Hospital by itself and at Morden College with painted plaster : all these with a view to securing results which could be obtained in no other way. The Georgian archi tects continued these themes, until, towards the end of the i8th century, stucco gained favour and brickwork, though still em ployed, disappeared from view. During the dreary mid-nineteenth century, which the French so happily term "L'Epoque du mauvais gout," yellow brick was largely used to build unlovely square houses and more unlovely eccentric ones. This continued up to the third quarter of the 1 gth century, when a brick revival took place, following the publication of G. E. Street's "Brick and Marble Architecture in Italy," in 18J5, the chief effect of which was an eruption of "Venetian" doorways and windows in gauged red brick. Contemporary with and following him, William Butter field indulged in riots of coloured brick disposed in patterns and in "Gothic" devices, some of which (as the Rugby school build ings) earned the description of "streaky bacon" architecture. Alfred Waterhouse was also tempted by the facility of the ma terial to indulge in remarkable feats of elaboration in brick and terra cotta, as at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, completed 1880. Such extravagancies were followed by natural re-action, their ultimate effect was to discredit brick as a building material, and imitation of the Butterfield and Waterhouse eccen tricities by every suburban villa-builder completed the degrada tion of brickwork. This was further precipitated by the associa tion of brickwork with the Gothic revival, when architectural fashion turned to the Renaissance manner as the only one suited for buildings adapted to modern requirements. Meantime two architects were producing works which had far-reaching effects upon design, and, incidentally, upon brickwork design. Norman Shaw was the pioneer of the revival of traditional architectural design ; Philip Webb of the appreciation of use of materials. It was only necessary that the right ways should be indicated, for to no building material were such attitudes of mind more applic able than to brickwork. War, economy and consequent restric tions have necessitated pruning brickwork of all but essentials, and the tendency is now to depend upon colour and texture—com bined with good proportion rather than upon elaboration of detail.
