Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
I would have, then, our ordinary dwelling-houses
built to last and built to be lovely;
as rich and full of pleasantness as may
be within and without: ✠✠✠✠ with such
differences as might suit and express
each man’s character and occupation,
and partly his history.
“Seven Lamps of Architecture”
Ruskin
THE✠STORY✠OF✠THE✠HOUSE
BEING SOME SUGGESTIONS IN BRICK-WORK FROM THE CATALOGUE OF O.W. KETCHAM, WHOSE OFFICE IS IN THE BUILDERS’ EXCHANGE OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA IN THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
“The crowded line of masons with trowels in their right hands, rapidly laying the long side-wall
The flexible rise and fall of backs, the continual click of the trowels striking the bricks,
The bricks, one after another, each laid so workmanlike in its place, and set with a knock of the trowel handle”
“Song of the Broad Axe”
Walt Whitman.
Copyright,
1899 by
Orman
Wesley
Ketcham
CONTENTS
Terra-cotta Fire-proof Materials
It is the purpose in
issuing this brochure
to give simply a few
suggestions of what may be accomplished
by the use of plain and moulded
brick. Here and there some of the
parts such as consoles, pier caps, and
carved portions, are of a necessity
made either of terra-cotta or stone;
but as this is a perfectly legitimate combination
they are here used. 
The brick forms shown in Part Two
are only suggestive of the various
shapes in use, as the requirements of
architectural design develop an unlimited
number of forms. The facilities
are such that any desired shape
or size may be made.
Part One
The Story of the House
ILLUSTRATIONS
| I—The Entrance Gates |
Page 3 |
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| II—Ye Hospitable Porch |
5 |
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| III—The Hall Fire-place |
7 |
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| IV—An Ingle-Nook |
9 |
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| V—The Library Window |
13 |
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| VI—My Lady’s Casement |
15 |
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| VII—Amid Gables and Dormers |
17 |
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| VIII—Among the Chimney-tops |
19 |
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| IX—The Loggia and Terrace |
21 |
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| X—The Garden Sun-dial and Exedra |
23 |
1
O fortunate, O happy day,
When a new household finds its place
Among the myriad homes of earth,
Like a new star just sprung to birth,
And rolled on its harmonious way
Into the boundless realms of space.
“The Hanging of the Crane”
Longfellow.
2Met, where the guardian wall is wound,
So subtly are our eyes beguiled
We see not nor suspect a bound.
No more than in some forest wild;
The sight is free as air—or crost
Only by art in nature lost.
“A Flower Garden”
Wordsworth.
3
4“To thy cool shadows, and to thee,
When thou to birds dost shelter give,
Thou music dost from them receive;
If travellers beneath thee stay
Till storms have worn themselves away,
That time in praising thee they spend,
And thy protecting power commend.”
5
6“How beautiful is this house! The atmosphere
Breathes rest and comfort and the many chambers
Seem full of welcomes.”
“The Masque of Pandora”
Longfellow.
7
8“Shut in from all the world without,
We sat the clean-winged hearth about,
Content to let the north-wind roar
In baffled rage at pane and door,
While the red logs before us beat
The frost-line back with tropic heat;
And ever when a louder blast
Shook beam and rafter as it passed,
The merrier up its roaring draught
The great throat of the chimney laughed,
9
10The house dog on his paws outspread
Laid to the fire his drowsy head,
The cat’s dark silhouette on the wall
A couchant tiger’s seemed to fall;
And for the winter fireside meet,
Between the andiron’s straddling feet,
11
The mug of cider simmered slow,
The apples sputtered in a row,
And close at hand, the basket stood
With nuts from brown October’s wood.”
12“Oh for a booke and a shadie nooke,
Eyther in doore or out;
With the grene leaves whispering overhead
Or the streete cryes all about.
Where I maie read all at my ease,
Both of the newe and old;
For a jollie goode booke whereon to looke,
Is better to me than golde.”
13
14“In yon red gable,
Which the rose creeps round and o’er, your casement shines
Against the yellow west.”
“Good-night in the Porch”
Owen Meredith.
15
16“It was a pleasant mansion, an abode
Near and yet hidden from the great highroad,
Sequestered among trees, a noble pile,
Baronial and colonial in its style;
Gables and dormer-windows everywhere.”
“Lady Wentworth”
Longfellow.
17
18“First in the dusky dawn he sends abroad
His early scout, his emissary, smoke,
The earliest, latest pilgrim from his roof,
To feel the frosty air;”—
19
20“The sunbeams dropped
Their gold, and, passing in porch and niche,
Softened to shadows, silvery pale, and dim,
As if the very Day paused and grew Eve.”
“Light of Asia.”
Edwin Arnold.
21
22“Horas non nurmero nisi serenas.”
“Only the sunny hours
Are numbered here,—
No winter-time that lowers,
No twilight drear.
But from a golden sky
When sun-beams fall,
Though the bright moments fly,—
They’re counted all.”
23
24
25
Part Two
Moulded Brick Forms
26
27
While these suggestions
are mainly
to illustrate
the use of moulded brick, they but partially
represent the line carried, as all
clay products known to the trade are
handled, such as:—
Ornamental Terra-Cotta,
Hollow Tile Fire-Proofing,
Terra-Cotta Roof Tile,
Fancy and Moulded Front Brick,
Enameled Brick,
Paving Brick,
Fire Brick, &c.
If you do not find what you desire among
these sketches possibly it may be found
among the moulds at the factory, or if
not, such will be made if ordered in
sufficient quantity. All known colors
and effects, including the ordinary red
pressed shapes, can be obtained.
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
Part Three
Terra-Cotta Fire-Proof Materials
46
“Houses are built to live in, not to look on, therefore, let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had.” “Essays—of Building” Bacon'
47
It is no longer a
question of experiment:—that
of thoroughly
protecting iron and steel structural
work. Terra-cotta has proved
itself superior to all other materials
in use, in maintaining its original
position during fire, thereby thoroughly
protecting the structural work, as
has been demonstrated at recent conflagrations.
The forms in general
use are floor arches, partition blocks,
column and girder coverings, furring
tile, ceiling and roofing blocks; while
special forms can be made when required.
Estimates for the furnishing
of material, either delivered or erected,
will be given; also full information
in regard to plans or specifications
if desired.
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
- Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling.
- Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
- Replaced poetry
illustrated drop caps with bold large red characters.
