Rooftop details

[Mr Fixit]

This pic is of some ornamental iron work on the side of the same building (seen on the right of the first pic) They are only through bolted into the brick and have no structural purpose, only decoration. This was at one time the exterior wall so this was able to be seen from the street, But that was a long time ago..

That is not always the case though. Many older buildings have these to add structural integrity. They stop the walls bowing outwards because there's one on the other side of the building, and they are connected under a floor or inside a ceiling (mostly) by metal rods.

Andrew

I agree with Andrew on his answer. The iron work is there to spread the load from the tie rods, which were used to tie the outer walls together to prevent them from bowing out and collapsing due to thrust loadings from the weight of the roof or floors [static load] and from occupants or the weather [live loads]. Depending upon the age of the building these tie rod ends can take many shapes, particularly as steel became more commonly used in buildings as its price and availability increased as the 20th Century neared. I have seen them shaped like the figure S or the figure 8, used either vertically or horizontally. Sometimes you will see an older building has had to have extra such tie rod ends or corners retro fitted to deal with extra loadings or stresses due to insufficient tie rods originally.


Mark