Brick masonry was (is?)  an incredible skill and art both.
It combines hard labor, precise measurement, materials handling and intuitive engineering.
My growing lack of interest in advanced mathematics combined with the semester-long construction of a beautiful brick building outside the classroom window ended my college physics major.
Years later I discovered the effectively abandoned steam power plant at the local state hospital.
The brick work on the two huge boilers, from the early 1900's, was exquisite and perfect.
The current owners offered one or both of them to me essentially free, but they were about a thousand tons bigger than I thought I could deal with.

The great pictures here are fun to look at and make it plain that the worst thing heard during their construction would have been "whoops."

The ornamental brickwork in these chimneys catches the eye....


It's in Aston Clinton SE of Aylesbury.
It's a while since I've passed the location but I recall that the house is called 'Chimneys'.
Perhaps they ran out of imagination after designing all that brickwork.

See it in close up: [url=https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8028495,-0.7369449,3a,37.3y,197.75h,97.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRltnyeS1UFShxtDlGBQBBA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en]Street View.[/url]

Carruthers, do you think those chimneys were designed rather than letting the masons have a free hand?

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

Carruthers, do you think those chimneys were designed rather than letting the masons have a free hand?

Definitely part of the design. Probably the best known examples are at Hampton Court Palace on the SW edge of London.






Chimney Conservation at Hampton Court Palace. Additional short video within.

The Decorative Chimneys of Hampton Court Palace.

 

Last edited by Carruthers (11/17/2021 5:25 pm)

https://books.google.com/books?id=LmsSbtlcD7EC&pg=PA235&lpg=PA235&dq=intentional+messy+brick+work&source=bl&ots=wH7jWDP5LT&sig=ACfU3U3COr1hyKnhRIEYTBIwW8tfDtwMXQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7zKbcq6T0AhXIq3IEHXiRDSkQ6AF6BAgFEAM#v=onepage&q=intentional%20messy%20brick%20work&f=false

Rabbit hole of interesting brick work. Some of it may be an offshoot of Brutalism. There is a thing called Weeping Mortar as well. I like it a lot as opposed to super clean brick laying. A little texture is pleasing.
 

Diaphone Jim wrote:

There are two brick chimney sculptures that I have  always liked.
This may be one of them in the strangest Wikipedia article ever:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_(sculpture)

I don't know if I screwed up the link, but there is no photo!

Fred Dibnah was a steeplejack from Bolton, Lancashire, who came to public attention in the late 1970s/80s when he featured in a TV series about him and his work.
As the textile industry shrank Fred's job changed from maintaining mainly mill chimneys to demolishing them which, if nothing else, made good TV viewing.
Anyway, here he is climbing a 300' mill chimney. Viewers of a nervous disposition should probably do something else for the next few minutes.




 

Diaphone Jim wrote:

There are two brick chimney sculptures that I have  always liked.
This may be one of them in the strangest Wikipedia article ever:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_(sculpture)

I don't know if I screwed up the link, but there is no photo!

I think this is what he meant to link to:

Chimney

ETA:  Could not find a pic of the sculpture.

Last edited by TheNeverWas (11/20/2021 6:36 am)

If you go to googles "intentional messy brick work" as griff did, then click on images, it brings up all manner of intentional cockeyed masonry.  I followed one rabbit hole to "clinkers"

"When fired in early brick kilns, the surface of bricks that were too close to the fire changed into volcanic textures and darker,  often purplish colors. Typically they were discarded but around 1900, these bricks were discovered to be usable and distinctive in architectural detailing, adding a charming earthy quality to buildings. The hardened residue of coal fires is called clinker, thus these mutant bricks found a name. In Europe, it is spelled klinker. "

Here's two examples, the building in Portland clearly shows it's intentional and know how to do normal on the rest of the building. The church in Edmonton is really extreme.