In many areas of the country, the earliest settlers understood the advantages of masonry construction over frame buildings and they brought the techniques of brick building with them to their new homes.  The threat of fire was perhaps the most commonly cited reason for building a brick residence.  Too, the clay soil of some areas of the country, when molded, fired, and glazed properly, produced a strong building block.  Perhaps the most important reason, however, was social status and prestige; a brick home identified the owners as socially and economically prominent.  The number of early nineteenth century brick houses still standing and in good structural condition exhibits the skill of early brick makers and masons.

     This brick-building tradition survives today.  Within the last fifty years, twentieth-century technology has added two more masonry materials to the traditional repertoire:  hollow fired clay tiles and hollow concrete blocks.  These new materials are as strong as fired brick or stone, but are both lighter and cheaper.  They  dominate twentieth-century masonry construction, either alone or combined with an exterior layer of brick or stone to make composite masonry walls.


     Click here to view  brick bonds in the pictorial glossary.  You may download and print out that information for students to use with the accompanying activity sheet.