Halsam American Brick Build - Two Story House with Wing

In the mid-1950s' Halsam offered interlocking brick building toys made from pressed wood. I'm assembling each of the models shown in the instruction booklet for their 60/1 and 60/2 building sets. I'm calling it the Halsam American Brick Build.

The tenth build is a two-story house with a wing. This was one of the more complicated structures to build. You can see in the instructions, the detail for the rear wing gable.

There are two places where bricks need to be cantilevered (photo, right). The gable for the wing roof is in the foreground. The second-story wall is in the back.

I was a little surprised that the instructions didn't have the two spans connected by bricks running across both. But that would mean the second story span would have to start two courses lower.

And that, with the inset of the wing's wall, would have lead to a more complicated structure -- and a weaker one.

The end result is a fairly substantial structure. It does seem a little odd to me that the most imposing door frame is on the wing. What I would think of as the front has a smaller, simpler door, as does the back.

It may be part of the same problem as positioning the spanning bricks. The fancier door is taller, and that could push the window above the front door up two more rows.

And that would make the second story disproportionately tall. 

Two-story house with wing (front).

Two-story house with wing (back).

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