Fire and Clay: How Bricks Reveal the Hidden History of Chicago

This is a virtual program — online only.

In Fire and Clay: How Bricks Reveal the Hidden History of Chicago, Will Quam, Chicago’s foremost brick aficionado, chronicles the construction and transformations of the Windy City’s neighborhoods and skyline. In the first book of its kind, Quam traces origins of the local industry from the earliest manufacture of common bricks through the peak of production in the late 1920s, when Chicago produced over a billion local bricks a year and imported nearly another billion face bricks for fancy facades. His talk will also feature the role of brick and terra cotta ornament embraced by Chicago architects and builders from the 1890s through Art Deco skyscrapers and beyond, in postwar towers. Also a photographer, Quam enriches his fascinating history with more than 100 of his color photographs.

Will Quam

Will Quam is a Chicago-based architecture photographer, popular walking-tour guide, and founder of Brick of Chicago. He has photographed for architects, engineers, manufacturers, and preservationists around the midwest. He has appeared on Block Club Chicago, CBS, WTTW, Fox32, WGN, and Masonry Magazine. You can learn more about the project and the book on his website.

To register for this FREE program, click on the GET TICKETS button to RSVP. The Zoom room is limited to 100 people. If you can't enter the Zoom, you can watch the program live on our YouTube channel when it begins at 6pm.

Image credit: The University of Chicago Press, 2026.