The eagle wall of the Covington post office in 2019, sculpture and field brick reading as one dark red range
Case File 061

Darkening Light Brick on a Covington Post Office

The brick on this post office arrived with light units through two walls and the eagle sculpture set into one of them. The company that made the brick paid to have them darkened into the range. It was photographed again twenty-five years later and certified then.

Case No. 061
Structure United States Post Office
Location Covington, Kentucky
Stained 1994
Re-photographed 2019
Elapsed 25 years, Platinum level

1994

  1. The eagle wall in 1994, the sculpture's brick reading paler than the field around it, with the building's cast lettering on the return wall Before, 1994 View this photo larger
  2. Close view of the brick eagle sculpture in 1994, its raised units noticeably lighter than the wall around them 1994 View this photo larger
  3. The single storey post office from the graded forecourt in 1994, its name in cast letters on the front wall and the brick eagle on the return 1994 View this photo larger
  4. The eagle elevation in 1994 with scaffolding standing at the left and the ground still bare 1994 View this photo larger

What was wrong

Most of the wall was in range and patches of it were not. Nothing had failed. The file names where: two walls, and the brick eagle sculpture built into the elevation.

It was hired by the brick manufacturer, not the Postal Service and not the mason. A brick company decided the color of a finished federal building it had supplied was its own problem, and paid for staining over tear-out.

What was done

Mineral stain, brushed on by hand, unit by unit. The file's phrase is darkened a small amount of light brick throughout the walls and sculpture, so the pale units came down to meet the ones around them and the elevation was left reading as one range rather than as a repair.

2019, twenty-five years on

  1. The same eagle wall in 2019, sculpture and field brick reading as one dark red range under dappled tree shade 25 Years After View this photo larger

What twenty-five years prove

Same wall, same sculpture, and a range that is still one range. On the certification scale that is Platinum, which covers twenty years and over. As of 2026 the work is thirty-two years old, and the 2019 certification is the most recent record on it.

The signed file

Every certified job gets the same form, signed on the day someone goes back to the building. This is the one for case 061, transcribed beside the scan so it can be read on a phone and by a search engine.

Scan of the case study form for case 061, filled in and signed View the signed form full size
Project name
USPO KY (1994)
Level
Platinum. The scale runs Bronze at seven to nine years, Silver at ten and over, Gold at fifteen and over, Platinum at twenty and over.
Hired by
The brick manufacturer
Reason for project
Not recorded. The four boxes on the form are all unmarked.
Issue
"We darkened the light brick in the range. Issues on two walls and the brick (eagle) sculpture."
What was corrected
"MCI darkened a small amount of light brick throughout the walls and sculpture."
Storyline
"We only took a few before pictures, we were not the best at picture taking back then. The staining has held up real well over the years!"
Authorized
Donald A. Foster, signed, dated 2019
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