Sarrah Mae: Brick as Image - all images part1

CHRIST CHURCH
St laurence parish hall

Despite its establishment in the mid nineteenth century (1845), there is still a crispness and richness evident in the Christ Church building.

Any form of restoration it is not obvious, jointing is consistent through out the building, and the brick’s smoothness has no evidence of weathering.

While brick is the key material used in the building’s exterior, the sandstone used to frame openings and as a decorative element serves as the building’s key structural element.



The protruding features of the building, such as columns and the front tower seem to use different bonds. The tower consists of a Strecher bond while the remainder of the building is flemmish.




CLEVELAND STREET INTENSIVE ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL


In constrast to the Christ Church building, while the Cleveland st building is similar in age (est. 1867), weathering and clear signs of age are prominent through out the building.

Impurities on the brickwork give the building a rough and organic appearance, as if the brick was carved from a large block in situ.

This roughness is enhanced by the building’s inconsistent bonds and joints, with both strecher and flemmish bonds and a combination of flush and raked jointing.


Inconsistencies in the weathering of the bricks, conveys perhaps, a variance in brick-age. The Venetian arches at the right of the building’s facade open up to another wall of brick suggests that an opening was once evident , now covered with less weathered brickwork.

While the use of sandstone through out the building signals The use of Venetian arches in selected sections of the building also indicates that the brickwork works as a structural feature.






RAILWAY INSTITUTE
BUILDING

The use of brick on the the Railway Institute Building is very consistent, particularly in construction. With regards to aesthetics, repetition evident in the gable-dormer’s curved shape is defined by the use of moulded brick.

While the bricks redness is still vibrant, sections of the building show evidence of blackening, from either chemical erosion due to the building’s industrial location, or from exposure to a fire.


Concrete beams beneath brick columns suggest the structural work brick columns are doing.