The Doorway Of Mystery

A small piece of the beautiful and currently empty Journal Building in Providence:

(Technically this post should be called “The Lintel of Mystery” but I felt it was better to dream big.)

This is a 1906 3-story building with large windows, so it might have a partial or complete steel frame, but its walls are definitely solid masonry. My big question is: what’s going on at the corners of this door opening? The two square terra-cotta blocks where the jambs meet the lintel are displaced out of plane quite a bit, while no other block has any noticeable out of plane movement. The middle of the lintel appears to sag a bit, and the condition of the joint between the lintel blocks and the frieze above suggests that this is not an original construction defect.

The lintel could be an actual masonry flat arch, it could be thin terra-cotta cladding concealing a steel lintel, it could be terra cotta with a steel tie-rod, or some other masonry and metal hybrid. The fact that the joints are vertical rather than sloped argues against the flat arch, but doesn’t eliminate it; the outward movement at the ends suggests rust-jacking but the lack of such movement between is odd. The lack of cracking around the door rules out gross movement of this corner of the building.

In short: dunno. Some problems are not amenable to drive-by walk-by diagnosis.