March 2011

Bemberg Stack

If you ever wondered how they spelled out "Bemberg" on the the stack, here's how they did it. It wasn't painted, it was done one brick at a time. Albeit with exceptionally large bricks. And in serif type too. Similar to the way type is built digitally in pixels these days. And I'll bet they hoped it was spelled correctly when they got through, there was no Did you notice that ladder that disappears over the rim into the inside? Whoa! Wonder if that damage at the top is from lightning strikes or just the normal aging of a 70+ year old brick structure? The lightning rods seem to be a more recent addition. I'm guessing the skill of building a large brick smokestack like is pretty much a lost art. Would like to have a brick from this landmark, too bad all the rubble from NARC went away after the fire.