Submitted photo Malcolm Sissons
Quoins dress up the corner of Marshall Terrace on Sixth Avenue SE which also features a corbelled parapet capped with glazed coping tile.
The expression “bricks and mortar” has come to denote something that is tangible, as in a store on Main Street, versus a virtual store, such as Amazon. Chances are you will be thinking of a typical two-storey main street store of red brick with big display windows. This late-Victorian/Edwardian streetscape came to typify many Canadian downtowns but it is sadly eroded today.
One of our best-preserved slices of this era is the Aberdeen shopping district at the corner of Aberdeen Street and Fourth Avenue SE. Many of the businesses there serve their neighbourhood but some attract clientele from all over the city. In the streets leading to this crossroads are several century old apartment blocks and many older homes
By the time these commercial buildings and apartment blocks were built, the local brick industry had evolved significantly and red pressed brick was available from five different plants in Redcliff and Medicine Hat. Mortar components were also manufactured locally, mainly sand and lime.
The back and side walls of these buildings were also typically brick, sometimes of lesser grades and workmanship, and several wythes (layers) thick. Where modern renovations have exposed the interior bricks walls that would have historically been covered with lath and plaster, interesting construction details become visible, such as the bond pattern, mortar joint and inset wood lath support. A typical “common bond” pattern would see six courses of brick laid lengthwise (“stretchers”) and then a course laid cross-wise to tie the wall together, with only the “header” ends exposed.
The store fronts were more usually of select, uniform red pressed brick. Sometimes pigment would be mixed in to give the mortar a black or red tone. The joint was usually tooled into a smooth concave or raked finish.
Some houses and St. Ambrose Anglican Church in Redcliff used “clinker” brick. These were brick accidentally overfired to the point of fusing together in the kiln. The brick had to be broken apart, giving a chunky, purple tone effect.
Bricklayers prided themselves in creating special details on the fronts of buildings. Brick size was developed by starting with the width, a comfortable dimension for the bricklayer to hold (historically about four inches). The length then became two times the width plus a joint and the height of the brick face would usually be calculated from three courses of brickwork (equal to a brick standing on end, a “soldier”). With this modular unit, a bricklayer could create all sorts of patterns and effects.
Typically, the parapet of a building would be “corbelled” out, each course projecting a bit more than the one below it. Sometimes bricks would alternately be pulled in or projected out to create a “dentil” course not to be confused with a program of studies in dentistry. Blocks of bricks projecting out at corners of buildings replicate stone units are called a “quoin” (from the French coin or corner).
With this ideal modular unit, our turn of the century buildings were created and their architectural artistry endures today, a testament to the imagination of the architect and the skill of the mason.
Malcolm Sissons is a Member of the Heritage Resources Committee of the City of Medicine Hat.
