Chicago common brick are

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

that were made in the area of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

during the 20th century.

Material

They have a unique color range due to the raw materials and the way that they were manufactured. The clays used to make these brick are unusually high in carbonates such as limestone giving brick their lighter color. Many brick were fired in periodic kilns or scove kilns that helped create their large color range.

History

The use of brick construction increased in Chicago after the Great Chicago fire of 1871. They are called common brick since they were used in multiwythe mass walls with many of the brick used on inner

wythe A wythe is a continuous vertical section of masonry one unit in thickness. A wythe may be independent of, or interlocked with, the adjoining wythe(s). A single wythe of brick that is not structural in nature is referred to as a masonry veneer. ...

s while a facing brick was used for the outer wythe. Most of the brick manufacturers closed around the middle of the 20th century, and now Chicago Commons are highly desirable as a salvaged material.

References

{{Reflist Bricks Building materials Building materials companies of the United States