Victorian Frustration With The Bricks

The rebuilding of Christchurch, New Zealand's infrastructure in the wake of recent earthquakes has allowed the opportunity to document formerly-hidden problems with 19th-Century construction:

“During the 1870s there was a brick shortage in Christchurch, partially because of the 1867 Christchurch fire prevention act, which had made it law that new buildings in what is now the inner city had to have external walls made of “incombustible materials”.

“As a result it would have been a struggle to find the best quality cutting bricks to construct the Madras Street drain. What the current work has shown us is how the pipe builders dealt with this problem – by adapting the house bricks which were available. This was previously unknown from the historic record so is a great find for us.

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