Those recessed or protruding bricks in buildings

What’s the deal with those brick buildings that have some bricks sticking out halfway or recessed halfway? There will be some big brick wall (like the side of a Wal-Mart or something), and every 50 feet or so along the wall there’ll be a column of bricks sticking out in a ladder-like fashion (i.e., only every second or third one sticks out). And there always seems to be a corresponding column of recessed bricks near the column of protruding bricks.

(The only purpose I can think of for these things is to tempt passers-by to climb the wall.)

-P

My guess is that it is purely for design purposes. A design in the bricks doesn’t look quite so mundane as a plain old wall.