6. Red Brick

Throughout the south side, everything is red brick masonry construction, which I have heard means that when the big one hits New Madrid, all our houses will liquify. They were built with brick, as opposed to frame, because we had a fire. Not famous like the one Mrs. O'Leary's cow started up in Chicago, but it was still quite a fire. Afterward, very little was built with frame construction.

Many houses have a different brick or stone facades--our block is filled with houses that appear to be white stone or brown brick. But down the sides and across the back, it's all red. The brick is native to the area, coming from quite nearby, actually. The south side is filled with old clay and coal mines.

My house is red brick all around, but the front is a tighter stacking of bricks--like a higher thread count. The mortar is red on the front, too, while it's a lighter pink down the sides and in back. But that's as fancy as the builder got with my house (definitely the plain jane sister to many of the houses here). Still, it's quite an imposing building, this foursquare done in brick instead of frame--it doesn't have the friendly look of the platonic ideal of a foursquare, a big happy farmhouse kind of building. It looks urban, set so close to its neighbors, tall and looming. I like it.

Our alley was red brick, too, until 3 years ago when it was paved over with asphalt. I suspect our street was red brick, since there are still some blocks scattered through South St. Louis with perfect brick--not cobblestone--streets.

Brick houses are easy to care for--we've done nothing but paint some window trim and lament the state of our terrible front porch (added on in the 80s, like a back deck on the front of the house) in the 11 years we've lived here. But they do require care. The four-family block of flats behind us had some drainage issues and we watched as the walls grew moss and mold, and then the mortar started to crumble. It's fascinating to see a brick wall tumble around a doorway, but not so great when it's the house behind you.