Mine Tales: Brickmaking in Tucson dates to 1880s

Bricks have contributed to the architecture of Tucson in the 20th century, supplementing traditional adobe block while helping add to the aesthetics of the city.

The history of brickmaking in Tucson dates back to the 1880s. Brick was seldom used for building material in Tucson prior to the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1880. Most of the early structures in Tucson were manufactured using adobe because of its abundance.

However, once the railroad arrived connecting Tucson with El Paso and Los Angeles, building material such as lumber and bricks became more accessible. By the turn of the century, Tucson had replaced its adobe buildings with those made of brick. Brick had become the building material of choice although Tucson was unable to manufacture brick locally because it lacked a resident brickyard.

There were no brick manufacturing companies in Tucson prior to the Tucson Pressed Brick Co., or TPBCO.

The company began its operation in 1896 below Sentinel Peak at 800 W. Congress St. Quintus Monier, a famous 19th-century French architect, founded the company and designed other buildings in town.

His most notable project was the building of the St. Augustine Cathedral in 1897, which at that time was Tucson’s largest brick building.

Other buildings followed, including the Santa Rita Hotel, along with the Heidel Hotel (now the MacArthur Building), St. Joseph Academy building and the Southern Pacific Roundhouse.

In 1908, Monier incorporated his brickmaking business, claiming he could process 20,000 bricks a day at a profit of $800. Other businesses such as the DeVry Brickyard and the Grabe Brick Co. began to compete with TPBCO. However, TPBCO remained Tucson’s largest brickmaking operation.

Several types of bricks were manufactured by Monier’s company, including both pressed bricks and firebricks.

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Pressed bricks are composed predominately of clay.

A metal plate inserted against a rectangular mold compresses the clay. The metal plate is the instrument used to imprint the maker’s mark on the brick. After the bricks are molded and pressed, they are thoroughly dried and kiln-fired.

TPBCO relied upon the rich sand found along the edge of the Santa Cruz River to supply the temper for brick manufacture.

One of TPBCO’s specialties was the creation of firebricks. Firebricks were used to line structures that are exposed to high temperatures. Firebrick is a refractory brick (resistant to heat) used for lining furnaces, bases of chimney stacks and fireplaces.

Tucson’s infatuation with brick buildings began to decrease in the 1920s as more tourists and residents sought to reinstate Tucson’s frontier architecture.

Buildings including Monier’s St. Augustine Cathedral were modified by a combination of adobe and stucco to make them appear similar to the Spanish missions of the 18th century. Although demand decreased for bricks, they continued to be used for the construction of buildings at the University of Arizona.

TPBCO supplied building material for more than 100 brick buildings across Southern Arizona by the time ownership of TPBCO passed from Monier to Albert Steinfeld in 1923. Steinfeld, a wealthy landowner in Tucson, may have used TPBCO bricks to build the Pioneer Hotel in 1929.

The Sundt contracting company, which owned TPBCO in the 1940s, built 24 buildings at the UA. By the early 1960s, however, demand had fallen for bricks, forcing Sundt to close its brickmaking operation at the foot of Sentinel Peak. TPBCO was relocated to the east side of town, off Houghton Road.

By 1974, TPBCO ceased to operate because the cost far outweighed the demand. However, its historical legacy will remain intact as long as buildings built using TPBCO brick remain standing in Tucson and the bricks embossed with the letters “TPBCO” continue to hold value among collectors and historians.