Your R System Images - May 2026

Woods Hangout. Huntley Meadows in Fairfax VA

That is a stunning portrait. The caption could be "Hello! Nice to meet you."

“Providence, RI. Built in 1893. Established as the Imperial Knife Co. in 1916 by Italian immigrants. Repurposed into residential units and mixed use.”

Very impressive brick masonry as well. From what I understand, it is very hard to make a rounded corner with bricks and have it turn out smooth like that. Plus take the rounded corner up that many stories. Very skilled folks back in 1893. Hats off to them.

SwampGrizz said:

Very impressive brick masonry as well. From what I understand, it is very hard to make a rounded corner with bricks and have it turn out smooth like that.

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That's an interesting fact!
I've been developing some basic woodworking and tool use skills but really lack an understanding of how large buildings are constructed. The rounded brick corners must have required a team of master craftsman. The end result fascinates me.

VanDyck said:

That's an interesting fact!
I've been developing some basic woodworking and tool use skills but really lack an understanding of how large buildings are constructed. The rounded brick corners must have required a team of master craftsman. The end result fascinates me.

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I am a retired Land Surveyor, and I have done my share of building layout. With modern technology, it’s fairly straightforward to stake out a building regardless of how convoluted the Architect’s design may be, and some of those designs are a real fever dream. Curves and odd angles everywhere.

Let’s go back to 1893. They had the capability to measure rudimentary angles, and could measure fairly good distances with a steel tape. The real work was figuring out the math and geometry without the benefit of a computer. It was all done by hand with a sine/cosine book. There is a reason why most buildings are square or rectangular. Break out the old 3/4/5 rule, and you have a right triangle. Easy peasy.

Now let’s look at your building. It doesn’t appear square. If it’s at a skew, it would be to follow the weird intersection angle of two street rights of way. The trick here isn’t the straight wall lines parallel with the street lines, it’s the curve at the apex of the intersection. Where to start and end the curves, and what radius to use? That took some head scratching.

Ok….we have the building staked out, and here is where the true skill and craftsmanship starts. The building art, so to speak. Brick Masons are the beneficiary of centuries of handed down knowledge about how to not only lay the stones/bricks, but how to lay them smoothly. Look how great that curved wall looks. These weren’t a bunch of chumps that did this. Then they took the curved wall up vertically for however many stories to the top. Excellent work.

This is why I have a love of and respect for well made things and the folks that make them, whether it’s a building or any other object. That’s why these buildings from 1893 still serve a useful purpose, not like the crap they throw up today.

Thanks for sharing these photos. I’m going to make an effort to post photos of our old buildings down here as well. It’s nice to have a kindred spirit.

P. S. I just looked a little closer at your images, and it’s hard to tell if it’s a square building with rounded corners or not. Either way, it wasn’t easy laying the brick.

These are photos of one of the buildings here in Savannah that dates back to the early 1900s. I know it as the old Masonic Temple, where the Freemasons and Shriners would meet. The brickwork and decorative details are what interest me most. How would you like to be the guy that had to meticulously paint all that?

ACEkin said:

I included some photographs in an article on my site from the same building and the red theme.

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Cemal, I skimmed through your website to find amazing collections of images and information. I can see that I have some areas interest similar to yours.

I did look but didn't notice the article your mentioned. Could you post the article title and the category it's in?

SwampGrizz said:

Now let’s look at your building. It doesn’t appear square.

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It's definitely not square, but hard to guage the angle. I tried to capture a sense of the angle in the photos.
Looking forward to seeing buildings in your area.

SwampGrizz said:

The brickwork and decorative details are what interest me most. How would you like to be the guy that had to meticulously paint all that?

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SwampGrizz, those are fantastics building photos! The ornate details are a real treat for the eyes, but yeah, painting them is another story.