Harvard brick is a technique for building brick facades in imitation of much older ones. It was originated by architect Charles McKim in conjunction with the construction (1889) of the

Johnston Gate The Johnston Gate is one of the several entrances to Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Completed in 1889 after a Georgian Revival design by McKim, Mead, and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define ...

, the "oldest and grandest" of the gates surrounding

Harvard Yard Harvard Yard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the oldest part of the Harvard University campus, its historic center and modern crossroads. It contains most of the freshman dormitories, Harvard's most important libraries, Memorial Church, sever ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

. "McKim made the gate harmonious with the Yard's older buildings... To convey a sense of age, he looked for '

cull In biology, culling is the process of segregating organisms from a group according to desired or undesired characteristics. In animal breeding, it is the process of removing or segregating animals from a breeding stock based on a specific tr ...

s', bricks that had been turned green, tan, or black by excessive heat. He laid them out in a sophisticated pattern called

Flemish bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...

", thus achieving "just the variegated color and texture of the weathered walls of neighboring

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and

Harvard Hall Harvard Hall is a Harvard University classroom building in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts. First Harvard Hall The present Harvard Hall replaces an earlier structure of the same name on the same site. The first Harvard Hall was built bet ...

s."

References

{{reflist, refs= {{refn, name=gates, {{cite book , editor-last=Kamin, editor-first=Blair, work=Gates of Harvard Yard , publisher=Princeton Architectural Press, title=Johnston Gate: Harvard's Oldest and Grandest , pages=18{{ndash25, last=Topczewska, first=Ola, date=3 May 2016, isbn=9781616894641 {{refn, name=roth, {{cite book , last=Roth, first=Leland, title=McKim, Mead & White, Architects, url=https://archive.org/details/mckimmeadwhitear0000roth_l6s8, url-access=registration, year=1983, publisher=Harper and Row {{refn, name=shandtucci, {{cite book , last=Shand-Tucci, first=Douglas, publisher=Princeton Architectural Press , title=The Campus Guide: Harvard Universi{{shyty, page=29{{ndash31 , year=2001, isbn=9781568982809, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3g6vmGl0UgwC Bricks