Posted on Feb 18, 2023
OKI Wanna Know: Why are so many Cincinnati buildings made of yellow brick?
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Zoey Peach of Westwood is wondering about a particular construction material she sees in the area.
"When you're driving down, say Queen City Avenue, you see row after row of these pale yellow brick apartment buildings, all roughly the same size and same shape, but they're not all part of one community. So I'm very curious as to why they seem to be everywhere in the city, from Westwood to places on the East Side."
Ohio has long been a center for brick-making. It's because there's a lot of clay in this part of the world. The executive director of the Cincinnati Preservation Association says Cincinnati once had one of the largest brick-making factories in the state.
Beth Johnson says the chemical makeup of clay determines what color a brick is. "So in general, here in Cincinnati, we have shale clay, which makes our brick, and that is high in iron oxide, and that's why we actually have mostly red brick."
"When you're driving down, say Queen City Avenue, you see row after row of these pale yellow brick apartment buildings, all roughly the same size and same shape, but they're not all part of one community. So I'm very curious as to why they seem to be everywhere in the city, from Westwood to places on the East Side."
Ohio has long been a center for brick-making. It's because there's a lot of clay in this part of the world. The executive director of the Cincinnati Preservation Association says Cincinnati once had one of the largest brick-making factories in the state.
Beth Johnson says the chemical makeup of clay determines what color a brick is. "So in general, here in Cincinnati, we have shale clay, which makes our brick, and that is high in iron oxide, and that's why we actually have mostly red brick."
OKI Wanna Know: Why are so many Cincinnati buildings made of yellow brick?
Posted from wvxu.org
Cincinnati
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Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."She says the yellow, or buff brick, comes from fire clay. "That is actually mostly in eastern Ohio, so when you go to eastern Ohio, you'll actually see even more of the buff, cream, yellow colored bricks."
The Cincinnati Pressed Brick Company made both red and yellow bricks, she says, because they had access to both kinds of clay. The yellow was a little more expensive, and was used for higher-end commercial buildings, including many in East Walnut Hills.
"Now, the apartment buildings are more the Art Deco, Art Moderne-periods of the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, and that's when they just started really experimenting with different colors of bricks," she says. "They really liked the gold, yellow brick, because it had this essence of gold and richness."
Johnson says it comes down to two things: supply and fashion."...
..."She says the yellow, or buff brick, comes from fire clay. "That is actually mostly in eastern Ohio, so when you go to eastern Ohio, you'll actually see even more of the buff, cream, yellow colored bricks."
The Cincinnati Pressed Brick Company made both red and yellow bricks, she says, because they had access to both kinds of clay. The yellow was a little more expensive, and was used for higher-end commercial buildings, including many in East Walnut Hills.
"Now, the apartment buildings are more the Art Deco, Art Moderne-periods of the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, and that's when they just started really experimenting with different colors of bricks," she says. "They really liked the gold, yellow brick, because it had this essence of gold and richness."
Johnson says it comes down to two things: supply and fashion."...
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Augusta Georgia has a brick plant that 3 brothers started in 1898. It was originally named for the three brothers, the Merry Brothers Brick and Tile Co. The plant still operates but is owned by Meridian Brick company. When I first moved to Augusta there was a waste deposit site for culled bricks. Bricks that cracked during firing etc. You could load up a pick up of culls for $10. A sign clearly stated you were not to use the bricks in structures, they weren’t safe. People would put in walk ways, flower beds and the like. One fool used the culls to build a structure as a commercial project he was hired to build. The structure failed. The owner of the structure sued the contractor and Merry Brothers. After that Merry brothers quit selling the culls. The company would take the cull bricks to a road to a clay site dump them them run over them with a bull dozer until they were in pieces. Some fool ruins things for everyone, I guess it was just a matter of time.
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