[BP] oversized brick question

[Met History]

On your way up to go ice-fishing with the good ol' boy, make a stop at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, designed in 1907 by  James Monroe Hewlett at the northwest corner of Clermont and Lafayette.  It has several interesting details, like the cream-colored column drums, fired with a slight amber tone in the fluting, emphasizing the natural shading in the recessed grooves, and adding a color accent.    And the designers reconsidered normal bricklaying practices.  Instead of the usual course-on-course brickwork for the wall surfaces, they produced oversized brick units by stacking the bricks in pairs, with dark mortar between the paired units - these give a massiveness that a traditional design could not.   They remind me, in fact, of the oversized brick units Davis Brody introduced (?) in Waterside, Riverbend, and other 1970's projects.   But  a) why couldn't Hewlett get oversized bricks in 1907  and b) why don't they seem to be  used any more?   Christopher Gray   PS  I am voting for Bush, because it turns out that John Kerry didn't just invent his own medals, he faked the entire Vietnam War.  Also Korea.