Thick as a brick
Wood was available in abundance as a building material in Northern California in the 19th century. The problem was that wooden buildings readily caught fire and quickly spread to similar structures. San Francisco went through conflagrations that destroyed three or four successive downtowns before it switched to more fire-resistant materials.
Oroville's Chinese temple burned down twice before brick replaced wood as the main building material. The third time was the charm. The current temple has stood since 1863, although floods played havoc with it until a levee was built along the Feather River.
In Chico, the brick building at the southwest corner of of Eighth Street and Broadway (first photo) has stood since 1874, although the west end was added later. The building was part of a section of downtown Chico known as The Junction. Over the years it has been used as a brewery, hotel, saloon, restaurant, antique store, bicycle shop and deli.
Despite their relative durability, bricks were rarely used to build Chico houses. The few brick residences include the Bidwell Mansion, the Lusk house (now Madison Bear Garden) and the Walker house (second photo), at the northwest corner of Ivy and Third streets. It was built in 1875 by Jefferson Walker, who owned a brick yard. Walker's company also built the Phoenix building and the old Chico High School.
After the 19th century, brick became more a decorative than a structural element in Chico buildings. The fireplace chimneys of many of the city’s craftsman bungalows are accented with clinker bricks, which get their name from their tendency to become discolored when they are placed too close to the fire in a kiln. They are usually discarded, but in the early 20th century they became popular with architects associated with the arts and crafts movement.
Brick is a common design element of Chico State University's buildings. Even the ugliest buildings on campus, such as the Meriam Library (third photo), make use of it.
A newer building that puts brick work to good use is the Tri-Counties Bank at the southeast corner of Salem and Fifth streets (fourth photo). The building is the former Sequoia Hotel.
Most brick walls are built in a running bond pattern, which consists entirely of stretchers (bricks placed lengthwise). In a running bond, the placement of the bricks alternates from row to row. Other patterns combine stretchers and headers (bricks placed so that the short side faces out).
