page_title: Glass brick
section_title: Wall blocks
hierarchical_section_title: Glass brick / Applications / Wall blocks
caption_attribution_description: Glass block wall
context_page_description: Glass brick, also known as glass block, is an architectural element made from glass. The appearance of glass blocks can vary in color, size, texture and form. Glass bricks provide visual obscuration while admitting light. The modern glass block was developed from pre-existing prism lighting principles in the early 1900s to provide natural light in manufacturing plants. Today glass blocks are used in walls, skylights, and sidewalk lights.
context_section_description: Glass blocks can provide light and serve as a decorative addition to an architectural structure, but hollow glass blocks are non load-bearing unless stated otherwise. Hollow glass wall blocks are manufactured as two separate halves and, whilst the glass is still molten, the two pieces are pressed together and annealed. The resulting glass blocks will have a partial vacuum at the hollow center. Due to the hollow center, wall glass blocks do not have the load-bearing capacity of masonry bricks and therefore are utilized in curtain walls. Glass block walls are constrained based on the framing in which they are set. If a masonry or steel frame exists, the maximum area of the wall can be 144 square feet (13.4 m²), whereas the maximum area without a frame is 100 square feet (9.3 m²).
  The William Lescaze House and Office (located 211 East 48th Street, NYC), built in 1934, was the first house in New York City to use glass blocks as walls.
caption: Glass block wall in Chicago.
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