Roving Rube Picture of the Day
11/23/01
Brickography
During the Rube's exploration of Manhattan, he at first could register and recognize only the broad features of the forest of buildings surrounding him -- the profile of the Empire State Building, the neon in Times Square, the perspective down Broadway. Gradually, other elements began to come into focus, as in the forest, where a shagbark hickory comes to seem quite different from a sycamore. So too do building materials come to appear increasingly distinct from one another.
Unlike steel and glass, which can become glarey, bricks love full sun. In Manhattan, they come in all sizes, colors, and patterns, which are created by how they are laid and mortared. These ones, on an Upper East Side Apartment building, are laid in "English Bond" style, where rows of header (laid shortways) and stringers (laid longways) are alternated. The texture is enhanced because the mortar is recessed, not flush with the surface of the brick.