Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/34

 4 Materials and Methods of Building. stances are often required in addition to the actual bricks, — such as terra-cotta and plaster. Bricks were employed in the erection of simple, massive structures in the earliest times, in Persia, Babylon, and Assyria. In our own day plain brick building, without stucco, has been brought to great perfection. Concrete, a mixture of mortar with gravel, is also used where great strength is required. 3. Wood. Timber was employed in the erection of log- huts in the earliest times, strong beams being usually piled up horizontally, and ingeniously joined at the corners. In the middle ages a wooden architecture prevailed, having a framing of timbers, the spaces between them being filled in with stone, clay, or bricks (half-timbered con- structions). The beams and posts were often elaborately carved, as we see in many buildings which have been preserved from that time. The wooden architecture of Russia is rough, consisting merely of trunks of trees piled up horizontally, but is often ornamented with carved barge-boards and window dress- ings and pierced panels. The well-known chalet of Swit- zerland is characteristic and pleasing. An extremely artistic style of wooden architecture prevailed in Norway in the early part of the middle ages. Many churches of that style are still extant ; the largest is that of Hitterdal, the ap- pearance of which is very remarkable. 4. Iron is a material employed chiefly as an important auxiliary, either for the making of ties and beams, or, in combination with glass, for the construction of large roofs, such as we see in railway stations, markets, and exhibition buildings. In America, buildings are frequently constructed entirely of iron, in imitation of stone.