Brick

Brick, block of clay or other ceramic used for construction and decorative facing. Bricks may be dried in the sun but are more usually baked in a kiln. They cost relatively little, resist dampness and heat, and can last longer than stone. The colour varies according to the clay used and in proportions according to architectural tradition. Some bricks are made of special fireclays for use in fireplaces or ovens. Others may be made of glass or they may be textured or glazed. Bricks may be arranged in various patterns, called bonds, according to the way the long sides (stretchers) or short sides (headers) are placed.

Brick was the chief building material of ancient Mesopotamia and Palestine, which had little wood or stone. The inhabitants of Jericho in Palestine were building in brick about 9,000 years ago. Sumerian and Babylonian builders constructed ziggurats, palaces, and city walls of sun-dried brick and covered them with more durable kiln-baked, often brilliantly glazed brick, arranged in decorative pictorial friezes. Later the Persians and the Chinese built in brick; the latter, the Great Wall of China. The Romans built such large structures as baths, amphitheatres, and aqueducts in brick, which they often covered with marble facing.

During the Middle Ages, in the Byzantine Empire and in northern Italy, in the Low Countries, and in Germany, wherever stone was scarce, builders valued brick for its decorative and structural qualities. They made handsome use of warm, red, unglazed brick laid in a variety of intricate patterns, such as chequer, herringbone, basket weave, or Flemish bond. Such traditions continued in the Renaissance and in English Georgian architecture, and were brought by colonists to North America. Brick was already known to the Native Americans of pre-Columbian civilizations. In dry regions they made houses of sun-dried adobe brick. The great pyramids of the Olmec, Maya, and other groups were made of brick faced with stone. Factory made brick, manufactured in vast quantities, has continued to be a versatile building material. There are three kinds: face brick, where appearance is important; common brick, a lower quality clay brick for ordinary construction; and refractory brick, which can withstand very high temperatures and is used in furnaces. Bricks are made from mortar, an adhesive consisting of proportions of cement, lime putty, and sand.