SLFS Review: BRICK BY CHANCE & FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY

As a native St. Louisan, I guess I’ve just taken the red bricks that constitute much of the structure of our city for granted. But according to BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY, a perceptive new documentary by Bill Streeter, we have a rich and unique heritage of bricks to be proud of; beautiful red ones that are a result of the ‘Clay Colossu’, the abundance of Mississippi Valley red clay here that was so important to the clay-working and brick-making companies that were such a big industry in our city beginning in the nineteenth century. One’s enjoyment of BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE may depend on how much you want to hear academics speak about bricks and it seems at first glance like an narrow focus for a documentary. Streeter, the creator of the internet video program and blog Lo-Fi St. Louis, got the idea for his doc when his out-of-town friends kept commenting on the beauty of St. Louis’ brick buildings and the end result is a surprisingly lively history lesson that, at one hour, never wears out its welcome.

Architectural historian Michael Allen, ‘Preservationist Activist Blogger’ Toby Weiss, Missouri History Museum Director Robert Archibald, and Missouri Department of Resources geologist Mimi Garstug are some of the narrators on hand to discuss our city’s brick history in BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY, a history which dates back to before the Civil War. Streeter sets his talking-head interviews to a musical soundtrack that includes locals Mat Wilson, Pokey LaFarge, the Rum Drum Ramblers and the South City Three. He spaces these interviews out with montage focusing on the many brick buildings throughout St. Louis as well as vintage photos and illustrations. The history lesson begins with the great St. Louis fire of 1849. Hundreds of steamboats and paddle boats were moored at our wharf when the fire broke out on one of them, spreading from boat to boat until it reached the buildings resulting in the gutting of a significant portion of the city (a stunning photo of the destruction is shown). It was then that new regulations and building codes were drawn up resulting in St. Louis being rebuilt in brick. Bill Allen, the former (and final) president of Hydraulic-Press Brick Company is interviewed. Hydraulic-Press, located at Manchester and Kingshighway, was at one time the largest brick company in the world. Every city wanted our superior red bricks and Hydraulic shipped them by train across the country. Larry Giles, president of the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation, notes that Chicago’s buildings are constructed with ‘Chicago Common’, a less-attractive, yellow-tinged brick he describes as “probably the worst bricks ever manufactured” (Ha! Lame-ass yellow bricks!!). Streeter takes his camera to the buildings the talking heads are referring to and these shots of buildings we’ve driven by and never noticed are eye-opening in context of what the narrators are saying about them. The bricklayers who assembled these buildings are praised as the artisans that they were. The way bricks are spaced, embossed and inset with various patterns is shown as a forgotten art form and another reason to appreciate and expand of our perception of St. Louis’ buildings.

Unfortunately, brick poachers from out-of-state love St. Louis bricks, too. And they’re stealing them. In the final chapter of BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY, Streeter trains his camera on the mean streets of North St. Louis where entire blocks of homes have been stolen by brick thieves. A City Alderman tells of trucks that roll into St. Louis from as far away as Alabama and Louisiana to steal our bricks, often in broad daylight. Local preservationists address this issue and label it a crisis but are frustrated that police consider brick thieves a low priority. Like anything we see every day, brick is largely taken for granted, which is why BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY is such a revelation. Even viewers who’ve never given St. Louis brick a second thought should be impressed how Streeter unexpectedly manages to turn a seemingly narrow subject into the type of relevant discourse that a great documentary should be.

BRICK BY CHANCE & FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY will screen during the 2011 Stella Artois St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase at 4:30PM on Sunday, August 14th at the Tivoli Theatre.