| The oldest shaped bricks found date back to 7,500 | | | | architecture that flourished in Northern Europe, |
| B.C. They have been found in | | | | especially in the regions around the Baltic Sea which |
| Çayönü, a place located in the upper | | | | are without natural rock resources. Brick Gothic |
| Tigris area in south east Anatolia close to Diyarbakir. | | | | buildings, which are built almost exclusively of bricks, |
| Other more recent findings, dated between 7,000 | | | | are to be found in Denmark, Germany, Poland and |
| and 6,395 B.C., come from Jericho and Catal | | | | Russia. |
| Hüyük. From archaeological evidence, the | | | | During the Renaissance and the Baroque, visible brick |
| invenÂtion of the fired brick (as opposed to the | | | | walls were unpopular and the brickwork was often |
| considÂerably earlier sun-dried mud brick) is | | | | covered with plaster. It was only during the mid-18th |
| believed to have arisen in about the third millennium | | | | century that visible brick walls regained some degree |
| BC in the Middle East. Being much more resistant to | | | | of popularity, as illustrated by the Dutch Quarter of |
| cold and moist weather conditions, brick enabled the | | | | Potsdam, for example. |
| construction of permanent buildings in regions where | | | | The transport in bulk of building materials such as |
| the harsher climate precluded the use of mud bricks. | | | | bricks over long distances was rare before the age |
| By 1200AD brick making was to be found across | | | | of canals, railways, roads and heavy goods vehicles. |
| Europe and Asia, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In | | | | Before this time bricks were generally made as close |
| the Near East and India, bricks have been in use for | | | | as possible to their point of intended use. It has been |
| more than five thousand years. The plain of the | | | | estimated that in England in the eighteenth century |
| Tigris-Euphrates lacks rocks and trees. Sumerian | | | | carrying bricks by horse and cart for ten miles over |
| structures were thus built of plano-convex mudbricks, | | | | the poor roads then existing could more than double |
| not fixed with mortar or with cement. As | | | | their price. |
| plano-convex bricks (being rounded) are somewhat | | | | Bricks were often used, even in areas where stone |
| unstable in behaviour, Sumerian bricklayers would lay | | | | was available, for reasons of speed and economy. |
| a row of bricks perpendicular to the rest every few | | | | The buildings of the Industrial Revolution in Britain |
| rows. They would fill the gaps with bitumen, straw, | | | | were largely constructed of brick and timber due to |
| marsh reeds, and weeds. | | | | the unprecedented demand created. Again, during the |
| The Ancient Egyptians and the Indus Valley | | | | building boom of the nineteenth century in the |
| Civilization also used mudbrick extensively, as can be | | | | eastern seaboard cities of Boston and New York, for |
| seen in the ruins of Buhen, Mohenjo-daro and | | | | example, locally made bricks were often used in |
| Harappa, for example. In the Indus Valley Civilization | | | | construction in preference to the brownstones of |
| particularly, all bricks corresponded to sizes in a | | | | New Jersey and Connecticut for these reasons. |
| perfect ratio of 4:2:1, and made use of the decimal | | | | The trend of building upwards for offices that |
| system. The ratio for brick dimensions 4:2:1 is even | | | | emerged towards the end of the 19th century |
| today considered optimal for effective bonding. | | | | displaced brick in favor of cast and wrought iron and |
| In Sumerian times offerings of food and drink were | | | | later steel and concrete. Some early 'skyscrapers' |
| presented to "the brick god," who was | | | | were made in masonry, and demonstrated the |
| "repÂresented in the ritual by the first brick." | | | | limitations of the material - for example, the |
| More recently, mortar for the foundations of the | | | | Monadnock Building in Chicago (opened in 1896) is |
| Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was mixed with "a broth of | | | | masonry and just sixteen stories high, the ground |
| barley and bark of elm" and sacred relics, | | | | walls are almost 1.8 meters thick, clearly building any |
| accomÂpanied by prayers, placed between | | | | higher would lead to excessive loss of internal floor |
| every 12 bricks. | | | | space on the lower floors. Brick was revived for high |
| The Romans made use of fired bricks, and the | | | | structures in the 1950s following work by the Swiss |
| Roman legions, which operated mobile kilns, | | | | Federal Institute of Technology and the Building |
| introduced bricks to many parts of the empire. | | | | Research Establishment in Watford, UK. This method |
| Roman bricks are often stamped with the mark of | | | | produced eighteen story structures with bearing walls |
| the legion that supervised its production. The use of | | | | no thicker than a single brick (150-225 mm). This |
| bricks in Southern and Western Germany, for | | | | potential has not been fully developed because of |
| example, can be traced back to traditions already | | | | the ease and speed in building with other materials, in |
| described by the Roman architect Vitruvius. | | | | the late-20th century brick was confined to low- or |
| In the 12th century, bricks from Northern Italy were | | | | medium-rise structures or as a thin decorative |
| re-introduced to Northern Germany, where an | | | | cladding over concrete-and-steel buildings or for |
| independent tradition evolved. It culminated in the | | | | internal non-loadbearing walls. |
| so-called brick Gothic, a reduced style of Gothic | | | | |