STEALING BRICK BUILDINGS.

STEALING BRICK BUILDINGS. I posted here about how once upon a time the first cast iron building in New York City had been stolen. The building had been disassembled as part of a restoration project and sold as scrap iron. This article in the New York Times by Malcolm Gay tells about how brick thieves in Saint Louis are burning down buildings in order to steal the bricks. Saint Louis bricks are considered beautiful and valued by developers. The high pressure hoses of the firefighters even knock the mortar off the bricks, which makes resale easier. Apparently brick theft is also taking place in Cleveland and Detroit.