Dutch Brick

Dutch brick, known in Dutch as IJsselsteen, is a small type of red brick made in the Netherlands or a similar brick, and an architectural style of building with brick developed by the Dutch. The brick was made from clay dug from the banks or dredged from the bed of the river IJssel and fired over a long period, giving it durability and a distinctive appearance. Traditional Dutch brick architecture is characterized by rounded or stepped gables, and the bricks were carried as ballast to Great Britain and to colonies in the eastern United States, including Trinity College Dublin, which was originally built of red Dutch brick. Dutch brickmakers later emigrated to New Netherland in America, where local kilns were firing bricks by 1628, and Dutch bricks were also exported for major buildings elsewhere, including the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town and Christ Church in Malacca, the oldest Dutch church building outside the Netherlands.