Three, Probably Four Colors

A much-repaired wall in a New Law Tenement:

The brick between the two windows appears to be more or less original, as well as dirty and with eroded joints that appear black in the sunlight. Down and to the right of the right window is a slightly-irregular area of that brick that has been pointed, and the white new mortar makes that area appear much lighter overall. The side jambs of both windows, and the area below the right window have new brick, somewhat darker than the original tan, as repairs. And the top of the wall, from the soldier course directly above the widows to the cast-stone top of the parapet, is newly pointed and either the original brick cleaned or a lighter-color brick.

No matter how long I stare at this, I can’t get away from the conclusion that there were two unrelated repair campaigns. It’s not entirely clear why the window-jamb brick needed replacement, although it may be related to the fact that the original windows were removed and these replacements installed. The parapet and wall-top repairs are fairly common, as the parapets weather faster (because they’re exposed on both faces) than the field of the wall, and the steel lintels at the top floor are the ones most vulnerable to rusting. But there’s no rational reason to install two different new brick colors that don’t match the original. It’s possible that the parapet brick is the original with new pointing, but there’s no rational reason why you would clean that portion of the wall and only that portion of the wall. And finally, the very white mortar of the parapet and the area below and right of the right window does not match the yellowish mortar of the jamb work.

Of course, the repair work is so easy to pick out because the original brickwork was so plain, with no ornament other than the solider course above the windows and the projecting rowlock course at the window sill level.