Squint Brick

This five-sided "squint brick"—oversized and with one end shoved to a forty-five-degree angle—is the type of brick used on the corners of Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's rural retreat in Bedford County. The house's exterior brickwork was in Flemish bond style, in which a short "header" brick face alternates with a longer "stretcher" brick face. In order to maintain that pattern on the corners of the house, squint bricks were used. Jefferson designed Poplar Forest, the first octagonal house in America.