Brick By Brick:
Building St. Louis and the Nation
April 15, 2004 - July 31, 2004
Organized by Samuel Cupples House at Saint Louis University Museum of Art
The city of St. Louis is "brick city" and rightfully so, as St. Louis was the largest brick manufacturing center in the United States at time of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Over 100 small and large companies provided brick and clay products not only to build St. Louis but also to export to large cities throughout the Midwest and the east coast. Buildings like Chicago's Navy Pier, New York City's Chrysler Building, and Frank Lloyd Wright's Johnson Wax Tower in Racine Wisconsin were all built with St. Louis brick.
Brick By Brick is a visual history of the natural resources, economics and immigrant labor pool that came together in the late 1860's to create jobs, new technology and a new aesthetic in building materials. Included in the exhibition are two hundred 19th century ornamental bricks, an archive of vintage photographs of brick makers and brick yards and documents from the corporate history of the Hydraulic Press Brick Company, the largest supplier of brick in the nation. A special section of the exhibition is titled St. Louis Brick Today! that brings modern brick design by architects and masons up to date with photos and examples of contemporary brick work as part of the 2002 Excellence in Masonry Awards. Artifacts in the exhibition are from the collection of the Larry Giles and the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation, the Missouri Historical Society, the Acme Brick Company and the Richards Brick Company.
-Pamela Ambrose and Larry Giles, Former Curators
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