When was brick first used

One of the first of these facilities was located in Albany, New York. The brick industry had begun its rise. Many brick buildings constructed during colonial times are still around today. One of the most notable advancements in brickmaking occurred in Richard VerValan invented a steam powered brick making machine.

Before this machine was introduced, workers would force clay into molds by hand. This meant the clay had to be fairly soft, and the brick units would become misshapen when dumped out of the molds. Automating this process allowed a stiffer clay mixture to be used, resulting in more uniformly square-shaped bricks.

This streamlined the manufacturing process, exponentially increased production, and led to an industry boom.

During the 12th century bricks were reintroduced to northern Germany from northern Italy. This created the brick gothic period with buildings mainly built from fired red clay bricks. This period lacks in figural architectural sculptures which had previously been carved from stone. The Gothic figures were virtually impossible to create out of bricks at that time, but could be identified by the use of split courses of bricks in varying colours, red bricks, glazed bricks and white lime plaster.

Eventually custom built and shaped bricks were introduced which could imitate the architectural sculptures. In the 16th century, Brick Gothic was replaced by Brick Renaissance architecture. In medieval times, the clay for making bricks often was kneaded by workers with their bare feet. They clay was shaped into brick by pushing it into a wooden frame placed on a table, which was covered with sand or straw to prevent the clay from sticking.

After excess clay was wiped off with a stick, the brick was removed from the frame. After the great fire of London in , the city was rebuilt with mainly bricks. Adobe brick, which is sundried brick made of clay and straw, has been made for centuries in Central America, particularly in Mexico.

Some Aztec adobe structures still exist, one example is the Pyramid of the Sun, built in the 15th century. Bricks crossed the Atlantic with Dutch and British immigrants with some brickmasons among them.

In Virginia brick structures were built as early as The use of Flemish bond gained popularity, and gauged brickwork emerged as an option for enrichment — a highly significant development in this period. Gauged brickwork involves cutting and rubbing softer bricks to allow very thin, precise joints to be used. An early example of such gauged brick enrichment is the Old Meeting House , Norwich, built in A considerable amount of brick was used to rebuild London following the Great Fire in The great gathering of craftspeople occasioned by this rebuilding had a long-term impact on brickwork in the UK.

Previously a material most commonly used for the houses of the powerful and wealthy, by the end of the 17th century, brick was becoming much more commonly used for buildings of different classes.

Its geographical spread also expanded at this time, as brick buildings become more common throughout England and Wales. The use of fired clay bricks in the UK became considerably more popular going into the 18th century. Brick was used to create many architecturally impressive buildings such as Chicheley Hall , Buckinghamshire, in and Bailey Hall , Hertford, around Brick was also used for terraced housing in a way that was previously unseen; an example is Union Place, Wisbech, built around These buildings often incorporated gauged-brick enrichment, as both the quality of bricks and the skills of craftspeople improved.

Importantly, brick was also used during this time to build housing for both rural and urban workers as well as the privileged. This meant it was used across a greater geographical area, with considerable expansion in Scotland in the 18th century, for example. In some cases, rural housing reflected influences from vernacular construction techniques as at Flatfield Farmhouse, Perthshire, built in see Figure 3.

Many early textile mills were constructed partly or wholly of brick, including the use of arched flooring to build fireproof mills, as at Ditherington in Shropshire in This strategy quickly became popular throughout Britain. Overall, the Georgian period was one of considerable expansion in the use of brick.

Figure 3: The Georgian period saw brick used for housing in both urban and rural areas of the UK. Thanks for your comment. Glad you found what you were looking for here about the history of bricks. And I envy you your visit to Pompeii! I'm so glad you found this interesting. I did wonder if anyone would be interested in bricks! This is a very informative hub, Amanda. Thank you for increasing my knowledge in such an interesting way!

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Welcome to Owlcation. The Ancient History of Bricks You may think of bricks as a very modern material. However, the truth is that bricks were invented a very long time ago. Type Use Cement Molded from Portland cement and then shaped to fit the purpose. Terracotta These bricks are actually a form of pottery and are hollow.

Lightweight and versatile. Wirecut Extruded These bricks are manufacted by extruding a large slab and than wire cutting each brick out of it.