Kind of confused me but I think I know where you are headed.
My immediate red flag concern was whether your current bearing walls are up to the addition you have in mind.
Anyhow, if you really are planning an addition to the top of this thing I would suggest glue lam beams or maybe even steel. With either you can span just about anything and even pull your top walls in with steel plates noone will see. If this is historic masonory construction though, I would not even dream of adding the weight of what you have in mind to the brick bearing walls.
I know this is a DIY site but faced with a challenge like this, I would have one of the architects or structural engineers I work with on the phone if it were my project. Mine are not outrageously expensive.
You are definitely going to need some nice drawings for permit approval for this anyhow so why not get on with it all. Architects are good at what they do and have saved me tons of money I would have wasted thinking I knew what I was doing.
My immediate red flag concern was whether your current bearing walls are up to the addition you have in mind.
Anyhow, if you really are planning an addition to the top of this thing I would suggest glue lam beams or maybe even steel. With either you can span just about anything and even pull your top walls in with steel plates noone will see. If this is historic masonory construction though, I would not even dream of adding the weight of what you have in mind to the brick bearing walls.
I know this is a DIY site but faced with a challenge like this, I would have one of the architects or structural engineers I work with on the phone if it were my project. Mine are not outrageously expensive.
You are definitely going to need some nice drawings for permit approval for this anyhow so why not get on with it all. Architects are good at what they do and have saved me tons of money I would have wasted thinking I knew what I was doing.