A remarkable exploration of Chicago's architectural history through the humble brick.

By the late 1920s, at its peak of brick making and consumption, Chicago was making over a billion bricks a year for its buildings and importing almost another billion nicer face bricks for their front facades. Throughout Chicago's history, brick dramatically transformed from a simple fireproof building material into an integral piece of architectural design. And no one knows the hidden details and stories of this fascinating history like Chicago's foremost brick aficionado, Will Quam.

In Fire and Clay, Quam takes us on journeys to experience the beauty and mystery of Chicago's buildings. He also explores how developers, architects, and masons followed changing fashions as they designed and built the city, creating connections across disparate neighborhoods. The red bricks that make up Lincoln Park mansions, for example, are the same as those found on Pullman row homes and Pilsen workers' cottages, just as Rogers Park's colorful bricks can also be found far across the city in South Shore. Known for his popular walking tours, Quam has built his life around the appreciation, study, and evangelizing of this most humble building block's many wonders. Here, he pours all his knowledge into the first book of its kind, beautifully illustrated with more than one hundred of his own full-color photographs.

More than just an investigation into brick, Fire and Clay gives readers a fresh lens through which to explore the city anew and find clear connections across its different neighborhoods. By the end of this lively tour through Chicago's history, readers will never look at a brick building the same way again.

Author: Will Quam
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 04/23/2026
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.60lbs
Size: 9.30h x 8.30w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780226828107

Review Citation(s):
Shelf Awareness 01/01/0001

About the Author
Quam, Will: - Will Quam is an architecture historian and photographer. Since 2016, he's shared Chicago's architecture and history through his project Brick of Chicago, also leading award-winning walking tours for thousands across the city. His photographs and expertise have been featured by PBS Chicago, The Chicago Tribune, Block Club Chicago, McSweeney's, and more. You can find him at @brickofchicago on Instagram.

Architecture - History - Modern (Late 19th Century to 1945)

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