Five Centuries of Fireplaces - part 2

Five Centuries of Fireplaces - Part 2

19th Century

In the previous post I looked at the earliest, strictly practical, fireplaces built by the children and grandchildren of the first European settlers. These were efficient, substantial brick structures intended for heating and cooking. Following quickly on those came the refined and elegant mantel designs popularized by Robert and James Adam and picked up by American architects such as Thomas Jefferson.

Now we move into the 19th century, a time when popular taste became truly eclectic and a veritable battle of fashions raged.

What better place to start than the White House?

James Hoban, Irish immigrant to the newly independent United States, won the competition to design the White House based on a larger scheme than was actually built. Here are two of his drawings made after the decision to reduce its size.

White House Elevation, drawing by James Hoban - https://www.whitehousehistory.org/

White House Ground Floor Plan, drawing by James Hoban - https://www.whitehousehistory.org/

The original interior was probably similar to the Adam-inspired style found at Monticello, but in 1814 the interior was destroyed in a fire set by British troops. The reconstruction introduced the more robust and solid style of American Empire, which had its roots in neo-Classicism.

White House, The Red Room, mantel from 1818 - http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/

Recent excavations at Pompeii shifted the fashion away from Adam's light and delicate treatments. A renewed interest in ancient Roman and Greek brought with it a more academic attempt to recreate the Greek and Roman precedents. This Neo-Classical style generally followed one of two approaches. In the photo above we see the incorporation of human figures, or caryatids, contrasting with a geometric frame.

In the other approach the focus is on the geometry, an almost minimalist paring away of ornament. The mantel below may have been designed by Thomas Hope, an English immigrant to the United States. It captures the essence of the Neo-Classical style.

Fireplace in the manner of Thomas Hope - photo: 1stdibs.com

Here is one final example of an almost rustic version of the Neo-Classical, by an unknown Tennessee craftsman working in the later 1800s, but very much in the spirit of a few decades earlier.

A vernacular version of the Neo-Classical by an unknown Tennessee craftsman

Photo courtesy Preservation Station

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Queen Victoria to the throne of the United Kingdom in 1837, there was an upheaval in style and taste. Instead of a single predominating style a great competition arose between proponents of the existing Greek and Roman inspired designs versus the styles of the Middle Ages. The battle between the Classical and the Neo-Gothic had begun.

American Gothic fireplace made for Yale University ca. 1840 - photo: Architectural Accents

Classicism itself begun to divide into different streams such as Italianate, Palladian, and Baroque. Eclectic mixes and Revival styles emerged such as Elizabethan and Tudor revival. Carpenter Gothic combined elements of Gothic and Classical ornament and adapted them to the extensive timber resources and engine powered saw mills, which introduced a whole new technology for shaping wood.

Italianate Fireplace, Eslava Plantation -

 Italianate fireplaces, such as these examples, often incorporated arched openings. The example above is from the Eslava House in Spring Hill, Alabama. Drawings are available at my eBay store.

Italianate Fireplace, Hudson Valley, NY, 1850s - photo: Old House Online

 As coal supplanted wood as the most common fuel various inserts were developed and the open fireplace with its traditional burning log began to disappear.

Early 19th Century British Fireplace - Photo: MG Craftsmen

Here is a Gothic Revival fireplace from Chicago. Note the characteristic pointed arches on either side. These were the defining features of Gothic architecture and a favorite decorative device.

Gothic Revival fireplace mantel, Chicago, 1870s - photo: Urban Remains

As the century progressed fashions became ever more elaborate and eclectic, with elements of a wide variety of historical styles mixed to produce some surprising results. The following three images are from the catalog #10 of the Innes & Company of Cinncinati, published in 1880. The designs in the catalog cover the gamut of styles, sometimes within a single fireplace. A copy of the catalog can be found at Archive.Org.

A mix of Classical and Art Nouveau

Solidity and doubled columns typical of the Richardson Romanesque style

Colonial Revival

Charles Eastlake (1836-1906) was a British architect and furniture designer, and part of the circle of William Morris. Morris, Eastlake, Gustav Stickley and a host of other artists moved late Victorian taste towards a more disciplined and refined aesthetic based on an appreciation for the inherent qualities of natural materials and handicraft. Some, like Morris, sought to keep manual production techniques alive in the face of increasing automation and machine work. Others, like Eastlake, believed machine work could be incorporated into and reconciled with manual production, keeping handicraft alive and also making it more economically available to all people. Eastlake's book, Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details, was immensely influential and the Arts & Crafts movement led late 19th century America in a whole new direction as the 20th Century dawned.

But that's the material for my next blog post. So I will leave you here with two examples inspired the work of Charles Eastlake.

Eastlake Style, Philadelphia, PA, late 19th century - photo: Preservation Station

Eastlake Style, American, ca. 1890 - photo: WorthPoint

If you have not already, please visit Part 1 of this series, which covers Early American fireplaces from the late 1600s until the opening years of the 1800s.

If drawings of historic American homes are your thing then you will also probably enjoy browsing through my eBay store where I have close to 200 measured drawings available for purchase. I am also in the beginning stages of stocking a new store, www.HistoricAmericanHomes.com, where I will eventually be offering full construction document sets for people wanting to build a new home inspired by historical examples. So please drop by and pay me a visit.

Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful day!

Five Centuries of Fireplaces - part 1

Five Centuries of Fireplaces - Part 1

17th and 18th Centuries

Let's enjoy a quick survey of fireplaces from the 1690s until today, strictly speaking about 325 years but spanning five centuries, the 17th through 21st. Funny how that works out. I've focused on American examples but there are a few European examples as well, to fill in key gaps.

This post looks at a late 17th century example and several 18th century examples. Nineteenth and 20th century examples will follow in separate posts and there will be a final post about fireplaces today.

Israel Arnold House, Lincoln, Rhode Island - 1695 - Photo by Historic American Building Survey (HABS)

The Israel Arnold House (1695) in Lincoln Rhode Island was built and expanded over several periods. But it started out as a two room cottage anchored by a massive fireplace. This is the gambrel roofed kitchen wing we see today. (All about gambrel roofs here.)

Israel Arnold House, Ground Floor Plan

In the floor plan above (see my eBay store for house plans) the kitchen can be seen at the left, with an oven to the left side.

Israel Arnold House, fireplace showing an array of cooking equipment

Israel Arnold House fireplace plan detail

The oven at the left is covered by a cast iron panel. Both wood and iron panels were commonly used. It was normal to build 2 or even 3 separate smaller fires in the fireplaces, for varied cooking and heating needs. The pivoting iron arm enabled cooks to move pots closer or further from the flames to control temperatures more precisely.

At the Peak House of 1711, in Medfield, MA, we see a picture of what the first 100 years of life was like in the new colonies. Security and warmth were paramount. There was no time for luxuries. But there was time to do things right.

Peak House, Medfield, MA - 1711 - Photo by HABS

The Peak House consists of sturdily built timber frame around a massive brick fireplace at its core. The fireplace includes an oven to one side. The brick chimney, heated by the fire at the ground floor, carried its heat up through the center of the house, warming all the rooms. Plans of the Peak House are available at my eBay store.

Peak House plans & elevations (HABS)

Peak House fireplace - photo courtesy: Patch

The Fenno House, at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA dates from 1725, just a few years later than the Peak House. The curators of the house have lovingly restored it and arranged it as it would have been originally.

Fenno House fireplace, Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA

The fireplace, set up for open cooking, also includes an oven in the back. A pair of log rests and a suspended kettle suggest how it was used. It was common practice to set multiple smaller fires within the one fireplace, depending on cooking and heating needs. A small fire of kindling could be set under the kettle at one side, or a larger fire for warmth could be set on the log rests, or even both fires could be set at the same time.

Fenno House fireplace, detail - Photo courtesy Colonial America: The Simple Life

By the middle of the century life was more prosperous. Time and resources could be devoted to some luxuries. Although fireplaces were still the primary means of heating homes, they could be more than utilitarian. They could exemplify the aesthetic ideals of the time as well.

The taste setter of the time was the Scottish architect, Robert Adam. Together with his brother James, he built and remodeled many great houses of the British elite, as well as developing the Adelphi Terrace in London. Most influential of all were his books, in which he published his own designs.

A mantelpiece design by Robert Adam, 1775

Adam's works were well known to the cultural leaders of early America, such as Thomas Jefferson, and copies of his books were found in American homes. On trips to London Jefferson himself saw buildings designed by Adam.

A mantelpiece design by Robert Adam

When Jefferson came to designing his own home at Monticello he looked to the works of Adam for inspiration.

Monticello Dining Room - 1770s - Photo courtesy Monticello.org

Clearly fireplaces such as this were no longer used for cooking. But they did still serve as the principal heat source. Kitchens typically migrated into the basement or into a separate building. At Monticello, the original, rather small kitchen was in a cellar. But as Jefferson expanded his home he added a much larger kitchen in the south wing, replete with a fireplace and two ovens, as well as a range of brick-built wood stoves.

Monticello, 1809 kitchen - Photo courtesy Monticello.org

But this brings us up to 1809. So it's time to end this post and save the 19th century for later this week.
Coming up next, the 19th Century in all its variety and profusion!