Rupert! What were you thinking?

[Miles]

Child Of Midian wrote:
> Bricks are too small to build a large structure from, the walls would
> be too thin for a second floor, insulation would be terrible and the
> inside walls would be terribly cold and damp in the winter. Yes, some
> houses are double layer brick, because it would have to be for height
> and structural integrity. Yes, in older countries there's a lot of
> brick and stone houses, usually on the small side but the UK
> certainly has its share of wood framed, aluminum sided development
> homes.

Miles:
This house in Hamburg:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Chilehaus_Point.jpg
is one of the most famous examples of expressionistic architecture of the 
1920ies in Germany.
It is constructed of bricks.
The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is built entirely of bricks.

Modern bricks are bigger and poriferous to improve both isolation and costs 
of building.
You are right, that most modern brick buildings have a underlying steel 
construction (or maybe wood in the US), but the reason for it is not that 
it's impossible to build bigger buildings out of bricks alone, but because 
it is expensive to do so. With a steel framework you need less bricks and 
less worktime to build a house.

Miles