While the south and west facades of the building are faced in brick, to save cost the elevations that do not face the street were built from a 8″x16″ pinch-rock face block. Collins A.I.A., the West End Fire House was built in 1937 as a WPA project. The Firehouse Museum just finished a $70,000.00 dollar restoration funded by FEMA and MEMA.ĭesigned by Biloxi architect John T. The Biloxi Firehouse MuseumĪll three structures on this site utilize a faced concrete block of a different type. shows a machine capable of producing three different size block similar to those used in the house above. This ad for the Baute Concrete Machinery Co.

Cast window sills, lintels and a water table cap are the other concrete features on this structure. There are also three different lengths of block in use here: a 16-inch, a 12-inch and a 4-inch. These rock face block are described as pinch face because the blocks come to a peak in the center, giving the face the appearance of being pinched.

This two-story cottage has one type of block, a pinch rock face with narrow margins, but the raised-bead mortar beds add visual interest to the masonry. Benachi CottageĪccording to the city of Biloxi plaque on the front porch this house on Benachi was built c.1905. I would like to take a couple of posts to share the extant early 20th-century concrete block structures of Biloxi. This general acceptance came about as the manufacturing process became standardized throughout the industry. While concrete block has been around for thousands of years it did not become widely accepted as a quality building material in North America until the turn of the 20th century. Home › Architectural Research › Concrete Block Structures of Biloxi

Concrete block manufacturers near me