Building structure and method of erecting same

Claim 1

In a built-up structure comprising a series of elements disposed end-to-end in courses and one upon the other in a plane with lines of juncture disposed horizontally and vertically between the elements, and a bonding agent surrounding the elements to permanently bond them together, the improvement wherein each of said elements includes a pair of continuous dikes projecting outwardly from said element in spaced parallel relation and having flat outer faces abutting like faces of adjacent elements in non-interlocking fashion, said dikes cooperating to define therebetween a continuous relatively shallow channel around said element and forming passageways between adjacent elements for receiving said bonding agent, said channel having a width substantially one-half the width of said element and a depth substantially one-eighth of the width of the channel, vent means including a pair of vertical holes extending from top to bottom in said element to provide fluid communication between top and bottom portions of said channel, said vent holes having a cross-sectional area corresponding to substantially onesixteenth of the area of the top channel portion, said element also having exposed faces extending in said plane and terminating inwardly of the outer faces of said dikes to cooperate with said dikes for defining a peripheral recess around each of said exposed faces and along said lines of juncture, and including decorative mortar in said recess and spanning across said lines of juncture.