Before it filled with suburbs, Westchester made brick. Yards at Croton Point and around Verplanck turned it out on an industrial scale, and some of it went into the county’s own buildings. Those bricks were never uniform, so neither were the joints between them, and good pointing leaves them that way.
Brickmaking was once a major industry here. Westchester County Parks records that the Underhill family ran two extremely productive brickyards at Croton Point, employing several hundred men. By 1855, according to ArtsWestchester, 37 brickyards were operating in the Cortlandt area alone, employing more than 1,000 people. The Town of Cortlandt notes that St. Patrick’s Church in Verplanck, completed in 1843, was built with brick from the local yards, and its original brick bell tower survives in the church rebuilt after a 1980 fire.
As a brick pointing contractor in Westchester we look at the brick before we touch a joint. The National Park Service’s guidance on repointing notes that hand-made brick can vary widely in size, color and texture within a single wall. Repointing old brick like that means clearing and refilling each joint to the width it actually has, and keeping every original unit whole, since the yards that made them are long gone.
Four things that set these walls apart from later brickwork.
Until brickmaking machines arrived in the 1850s, bricks were shaped by hand and came out slightly different sizes. The joints took up the difference, so on an older Westchester wall one joint can be noticeably thinner than its neighbor, and each is refilled to its own width.
Owners sometimes read a scatter of reds, oranges and darker units as a sign of patching. NPS Brief 2 notes that hand-made brick naturally varies in color and texture within one wall. On an older Westchester building that variety is usually original, and pointing leaves it as it is.
Croton Point has been a county park since 1923, and the Cortlandt yards have long since closed. A brick chipped while old mortar is cleared out of a Westchester wall stays chipped, so the work slows down wherever the tool comes close to a brick.
The older the building, the more likely its brick came from yards nearby, particularly in towns along the Hudson close to where those yards stood. Later Westchester houses were often faced with machine-made brick, which is far more regular in size.
Size, shape, color and the age of the building tell us whether a Westchester wall is laid in hand-made brick or the regular machine-made kind. That decides how carefully the old mortar has to come out.
Old mortar comes out following the joint as it was laid, not a straight guide line. Near the corners of each brick the work slows, because on these Westchester walls a chipped unit cannot be swapped for a new one of the same make.
Thin joints stay thin and fuller ones stay full. Nothing is opened up to make the courses look even, so the repointed Westchester wall keeps the character it was built with.
The quick way to repoint is to run every joint to the same line, and on modern brick that is fine. On a wall laid with brick from the county’s own yards it is the wrong instinct. Those bricks were never the same size, the joints were never the same width, and the units themselves cannot be bought again. Clearing old mortar with care, refilling each joint to the width it had and leaving the mix of colors alone keeps the wall what it is. On an older Westchester building, ask how the joints will be handled before anyone starts cutting.
Brick from the county’s own yards went into buildings along the Hudson, and we point brick of every age throughout Westchester, from the oldest walls to the newest.
See brickwork contractor Westchester for our other brick work in the county, or brick pointing NYC for the full method, from raking out to filling.
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Yes, on a large scale. Westchester County Parks records two extremely productive Underhill brickyards at Croton Point employing several hundred men, and ArtsWestchester counts 37 yards in the Cortlandt area by 1855. Brick from the Verplanck yards went into St. Patrick’s Church there, completed in 1843.
Because the bricks are different sizes. They were molded by hand until machines took over in the 1850s, and no two came out quite alike, so the joints absorbed the variation. On an older Westchester wall uneven joints are usually original, and each one is repointed to its own width.
No. Making them even means cutting into some bricks to straighten the lines, and on hand-made brick that damages units nobody makes any more. On an older Westchester wall each joint is refilled to the width it had, which keeps the brickwork looking the way it was built.
No. Croton Point became a county park in 1923, and none of the Cortlandt yards still operates. That is why a brick damaged during pointing on an older Westchester wall is a real loss, and why old mortar close to each brick is cleared slowly and with care.
Look across the whole wall rather than at one brick. Hand-made units vary slightly in length and height, and NPS Brief 2 notes a wide range of color and texture within one wall. Machine-made brick is far more regular. On an older Westchester building, the difference is usually easy to see.
