Great news! We’ve expanded our popular Canyon Series selection with four gorgeous new colors. If you love distinctive brick with lots of character, you’ll want to consider our Canyon Series brick for your new home. Designed to reflect the sweeping peaks and valleys of natural canyon landmarks, this highly textured brick series is a popular choice for many home styles, from traditional, to lodge and craftsman, to rustic farmhouse. Here are a few pictures that give you a close up of this incredibly unique and dynamic brick. Canyon Series Steele, white mortar New colors for you to ..read more

A New and Classy Neutral: Black Brick! Hot on the trail of the white brick craze comes a growing appetite for black brick homes. As drastically different as this shift may appear, it’s really just another take on simple, classic style. A black exterior offers a neutral and sophisticated backdrop, perfectly suited for modern designs. And, just as General Shale developed a range of white and light brick, we’re introducing many gorgeous black and dark brick options under our umbrella of companies, including Watsontown and Arriscraft. New Black Brick from General Shale New in 2021, Midnight Mi ..read more

As cities throughout North America move to rejuvenate neglected cores through intensification, planning affordable housing poses a unique challenge:  how to redevelop economically and with an aesthetic that jives with the eclectic nature of historic cores. Having completed a successful and award-winning development in downtown Baltimore already, Fillat+ Architecture and their client, Housing Trust of America, eyed a vacant property for a new affordable apartment complex. Situated at an historic intersection, architect Peter Fillat and his team drew inspiration from a black and white pho ..read more

“Hope springs eternal”, wrote Alexander Pope, meaning, we hope regardless of tough times. And “the soul rests and expatiates in a life to come”. (Now, we had to look that up.) Expatiates:  to speak or write at length. So, with a new season here and hope springing eternal, we’re expatiating on designing beautiful outdoor spaces. Let’s get outdoors and create places that we can enjoy this year and for many years to come! You may know us for residential brick, but General Shale also offers high-quality products for outdoor hardscape, outdoor fireplaces and fire pits and simple accen ..read more

At first thought, the color gray may not get your creative juices flowing. But we feel like this eternal neutral gets a bad rap for its quick association with rainy days. Today, we’re changing the script and celebrating gray as a champion neutral. Whether warm or cool, choosing gray for your home sets the stage for a classic monochromatic style. And when you’re feeling creative or want to spruce things up, gray is a timeless backdrop for seasonal décor and for changing up our accent colors as trends change. According to 2021 trends - gray is in! There’s just something permanent and groun ..read more

Photo credit: @lovehurtts | Old Louisville Tudor thin brick Few design elements draw attention like authentic brick flooring. For new homes, real thin brick flooring lays the perfect foundation for the clean, white walls, wood features and rustic accents of the popular farmhouse look. And if you are renovating an entryway, mudroom, kitchen, or bathroom, thin brick flooring can be a dramatic upgrade and great investment that will last for decades. General Shale thin brick comes in dozens of designer colors, from solid, traditional tones, to distressed blends, to our new super dark Blacksmith ..read more

Your new home is the biggest investment you’ll ever make and, regardless of your budget, the exterior of your house is the best area to invest in.  As a smart investment, your home’s exterior should provide long-term value (i.e. higher resale) and also deliver immediate benefits too – features that better protect your family and save you time and money on maintenance and repairs. There are many options for exterior cladding and, as a big-ticket item, it may be tempting to choose a less expensive option. Before you decide, consider that sometime savings up front means more expense down t ..read more

When it comes to brick, a weathered, distressed finish in a long, linear format delivers the ideal aesthetic for modern buildings. We introduced our Architectural Linear Series Brick (ALSB) just two years ago, giving architects and builders access to this much sought-after product, which was previously only available from Europe. Due to popular demand, we’re highlighting the key features and benefits of this exclusive brick product. Character-rich finish and colors Our ALSB features unique distressing that gives it a rustic chic appeal. For contemporary designs that combine natural and modern ..read more

Building new sometimes means rebuilding the past. In order to bring history to life, designers chose a custom Watsontown thin brick for the new Museum of the American Revolution which opened in 2017. We wanted to share the special design challenge and team collaboration behind this new structure in an iconic American setting. Located in the heart of Philadelphia’s historic area, the new Museum of the American Revolution required aesthetic alignment with the surrounding historical structures. In fact, this new museum is just a few blocks from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall which was ope ..read more