‘Dr. Brick’ offers lessons in preservation

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Vit Wagner
Publishing Reporter

When master bricklayer Gerard Lynch made his pitch for a prestigious Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship in 1997, he was renowned throughout the United Kingdom for both the unrivalled artistry of his handiwork and scholarly interest in his vocation.

Even so, the engineer’s son was more than a little intimidated by having to plead his case to a four-person panel that included Mary Soames, the baroness daughter of the legendary British wartime prime minister for whom the Churchill award was named.

“I was just a brickie,” recalls Lynch, who was in Toronto this month sharing his expertise. “I was bumbling along when she extended her hand to me and said, ‘Oh, Gerard, I’ve so looked forward to meeting you. My father loved laying bricks.’”

Winston Churchill, who had a hobbyist’s passion for constructing garden walls at his family’s Blenheim Palace estate, could have learned a thing or two from Lynch.

After using the fellowship to study traditional brick laying in the Netherlands, Lynch eventually went on to become the first person to acquire a PhD in “historic brickwork technology,” a distinction that earned him the nickname “Dr. Brick.” On his business card, however, he favours the older, more distinguished title, “red mason.”

Lynch, who lives in Woburn Sands north of London, has published four books and many articles on his trade and is an internationally recognized consultant. He has advised on reconstruction projects, from the U.K. landmarks Hampton Court Palace and the Royal Albert Hall to U.S. Civil War fortifications Fort Sumter and Fort Jackson.

“Basically he is the last person in the world who knows the old techniques,” says Paul Goldsmith of Historic Restoration Inc., one of two local firms which organized Lynch’s Toronto sessions, along with ERA Architects Inc. “We thought we had better learn from him while he was still around.”

The six demonstrations at the Evergreen Brick Works were attended by representatives of various architectural firms, the Ontario Heritage Trust and the City of Toronto. Using slide presentations to stress the advantages of traditional lime mortars, Lynch explained what has been lost since mass production shifted to cement and sand after World War II.

Current techniques are fine for new construction, but can have a deleterious effect — including eroding the brick — when applied to restoration of older buildings of the kind, found in the Distillery District and other parts of Toronto, that were built with the older lime method.

“We were taught to work in two worlds,” says Lynch, 56, whose five-year apprenticeship started at age 17. “We had to work reasonably fast to build modern houses and factories, so we could earn our boss money.

“But we were also taught how to do traditional craft skills. I am proud of doing what I can to pass on those skills. I hope that I will be a pebble in a pond that will radiate out.”

While stressing that Toronto is “beautiful,” Lynch added that a cursory tour of the city yielded its share of eyesores.

“Sadly, a lot of your buildings have been ruined by sandblasting. You can see the brickwork is all pitted,” he said. “I’ve also seen where somebody has tried to put an arch back in but has no clue how to cut bricks properly. But I wouldn’t say there is anything Canadian about that because, sadly, we see the same thing back in the British Isles.”

The sessions included a number of hands-on demonstrations, evidence that “Dr. Brick” has lost neither his touch nor connection to his roots.

“I’ve been blessed with a good pair of hands,” Lynch says. “The academic credibility is useful, but at the end of the day I see myself, first and foremost, as a red mason.”


U.K. master bricklayer and consultant Gerald Lynch demonstrates tuck pointing using a tool he created and calls a Frenchman, as he visits the Brickworks teaching techniques for the preservation of older buildings in Toronto.