Holland Park Living

Fireplaces

Construction

In London terrace properties, each pair of houses would have the fireplaces and chimney flues built into the shared party walls, culminating in a combined chimney unit on the roof. The chimney flues had to zigzag to get round the fireplace on the floor above. This also avoided rain falling on the fire. Victorians thought it reduced draughts, but that is not so. The bricks lining the flue were covered with plaster rendering.

Fashions

The Regency fireplace was less elaborate than earlier Palladian models. But Victorian fireplaces became more decorative again under the influence of the prevailing Gothic style.

Decoration

The commonest materials for cheaper fireplaces were plaster and pine. Scagliola was used to cover the side supports and the mantelshelf in many cases. In the time of Adam white marble was the most popular material.

Rumford grates

The design of fireplaces was revolutionised by an American engineer, Benjamin Thompson (who is usually known as Count Rumford, a title given to him by the Elector of Bavaria in 1784). Rumford observed that English fireplaces sent most of the heat up the chimney and most of the smoke into the room and he devised a new design with a narrow opening to the flue, to keep the heat in the room, and various other refinements, such as the use of fire bricks at the back to reflect heat into the room. Rumford grates became a regular feature of Regency houses.