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The History of Brick Architecture in Chicago

Join Chicago's premiere brick expert, Will Quam, to discover how humble bricks reveal Chicago's fascinating, hidden history and explore the evolution of building fashions over time. Signup required.

Join Chicago's premiere brick expert, Will Quam, to discover how humble bricks reveal Chicago's fascinating, hidden history and explore the evolution of building fashions over time. Signup required.

When Chicago burned down in 1871, it was rebuilt as a city of brick, mostly using bricks made from the clay right underneath the young city's feet. But as much as we may think of a brick as a simple rectangle that holds our buildings up, it is actually so much more--it is an object of design, each brick a brushstroke in the canvas of a building. Journey across Chicago and architecture history and learn how fashion in brick changes just as much as fashion in clothing, from monolithic temples covered in solid red bricks to English cottages bedecked with bark-textured multicolored bricks, to sleek towers clad in rich, iron-flecked bricks and more.

Will Quam

Will Quam is an architecture photographer and historian. He has been described as “Chicago’s premiere brick expert” by Geoffrey Baer of PBS Chicago. Through his project Brick of Chicago he has led more than 10,000 Chicagoans and tourists on brick walking tours of the city and his tours have been described as some of Chicago’s best by Curbed and the Chicago Reader. Will’s work has been featured in such outlets as the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg CityLab, Block Club Chicago, Preservation Magazine, WGN, and more. His book Fire and Clay: How Brick Reveals the Hidden History of Chicago was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2026.

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