Masonry Magazine February 1985 Page. 44
BRICE HOUSE
Shown at the Brice House reception (from left) are BAC executive vice president and Mrs. L. Gerald Carlisle; MCAA executive vice president George A. Miller, Carl Booker, Laborers International Union of North America, and MCAA president W. C. Dentinger, Jr.
Brice House will add facilities for a scholarly research center and a 10,000-volume masonry library with data available to architects, engineers, builders, owners and public officials through a computer network.
The International Masonry Center ultimately will include an International Training Center and a Research and Development Center. These will be located at sites in the Washington, D.C./Annapolis area, but not at Brice House which is in the heart of Annapolis' historic district.
The opening of Brice House, initial element of the International Masonry Center, "moves IMI to a new and higher plane of service to masonry craftsmen and employers-and, in fact, to the entire masonry industry," said Ray Lackey, IMI's executive vice president.
"Brice House is the first step in a major program that will improve the effectiveness of training, promotion, research and labor/management programs already under way at IMI, and at the same time it will begin to create in all parts of our industry a feeling of cohesion and unity that will be vital to our future," he said.
The IMI Board of Trustees has announced its hope of making the International Masonry Center and Brice House the "home" of all of the masonry industry-employers, unions and manufacturers in the U.S. and Canada.
Brice House was constructed in 1766-74 by James Brice, a merchant. It is a five-part house with brick and stone on the exterior and plaster cornices and panels on the interior. The exterior brickwork, which includes all-header bond on the center portion, is exceptional, and the ornamental plaster work on the interior is among the most beautiful of its period.
Brice House is regarded as one of the most beautiful Colonial homes in America, and it sits in the middle of an historic small city, Annapolis, which has more genuine 18th century buildings than any other city in the nation.
The process of creating a masonry industry "home"-a long-standing objective and need of the masonry industry which in the past has suffered from decentralization, to the point where its ability to react to challenges and seize opportunities has been negatively affected-began in 1982. At that time, the International Bricklayers Union acquired the right to purchase Brice House at an estate auction. That right was conveyed to IMI so that the Institute could use Brice House for its own programs and those of other organizations in the masonry industry.
Restoration of Brice House has been under the supervision of architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen, FAIA. The mason contractor was EGS Masonry, Washington, D.C.
Pictured are the MCAA trustees of the Bricklayers and Trowel Trades International Pension Fund with co-counsel at a meeting of the Fund's trustees held at the Brice House on November 14, 1984. From left, Bob Tubesing, Joe Szabo and George Miller of MCAA: Bob Mayer, co-counsel, and Frank Stupar, executive director of the B&TTIPF, and George Plumb, MCAA legal counsel.
44 MASONRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 1985