Unpopular opinion: The brickwork at the new downtown library isn't all that great

I went to check out the new public library over on 5th Street last Saturday, and I gotta say I was disappointed with the brickwork on the front facade. Everyone keeps raving about it online, but up close you can see uneven mortar joints and a couple spots where the color blending is just off. I've been cleaning houses for years so I notice little details, and those uneven lines bug me. The pattern they used is cool in theory, but the execution feels rushed. Maybe I'm just being picky, but for a building that cost $4 million, I expected tighter work. Has anyone else walked by and noticed the same thing, or am I alone on this?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinp441d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy Mike does commercial masonry work and I showed him a picture of that front facade yesterday. He started laughing and pointed out three spots where you can see the mortar wasn't even struck properly, just messy and left to dry. He said whoever laid the bottom two courses either ran out of daylight or patience, because the bond pattern shifts halfway across the wall. For a high profile job like that, the foreman should have caught it before they even cleaned the face. Makes you wonder if the general contractor was just pushing to get it done.

brown.willow19h ago

Right, rushing a job ruins the whole thing for good masons.