A History of Reinforced Masonry Construction Designed to Resist Earthquakes: 1755-1907

Abstract

Although the reinforcement of masonry buildings against earthquake damage was known as early as 1755, it only came of age in the United States in the late 1930s. This survey, which includes antiseismic construction systems dating from 1755, 1783, 1784, 1854, 1870, 1872, 1906 and 1907 illustrates how common sense solutions for the reinforcement of masonry buildings had already been invented and used long before the Long Beach earthquake in 1933 which stimulated modern reinforcement research.