Pure Church

In Britain, the phrase isn't uncommon although the word for toilet is a little ruder! It's referring to an outhouse, i.e. a chunky, stocky brick building with a toilet in it. It means someone is sturdy, well-built and you wouldn't want to pick a fight with them!

Like Nathan said ...

We Americans (and when I say we, I don't mean me) say "brick outhouse." We would never say "brick toilet," because that would be rude and crude, and because everyone knows toilets are porcelain. I understand that in other times and other cultures, "toilet" meant the entire facility, and the phrase makes sense understood in that way.

Actually, "we Americans" usually say it much more colorfully, as in "brick sh**house"... I've heard that phrase too many times to count in life, but never "brick outhouse". Regardless, the connotations Nathan mentions are what it is always understood to mean. It is always meant in a very good way... a person built that way is tough and solid.

Well, I guess it's all in the company you keep. I've heard it countless times as well, and both ways, but mostly "outhouse." "Brick silo" is another variation.