# Those recessed or protruding bricks in buildings

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-recessed-or-protruding-bricks-in-buildings/25026>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 9, 2000, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-recessed-or-protruding-bricks-in-buildings/25026 "2000-07-09T09:27:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-recessed-or-protruding-bricks-in-buildings/25026/1 "2000-07-09T09:27:49Z")

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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

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**Author:** ![my85car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed8c4c/32.png) [@my85car](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/my85car)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-recessed-or-protruding-bricks-in-buildings/25026/2 "2000-07-09T12:38:27Z")

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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.