Five Centuries of Fireplaces - Part 3

Five Centuries of Fireplaces - Part 3

20th Century

The previous post covered the many strands of style and design that flourished in the 19th century, culminating in the full flowering of High Victorian ornament and swinging back towards a simpler, hand-crafted aesthetic with the Arts & Crafts movement. As the 20th century opened designers broke away from the patterns of Classical and Gothic historical precedents and returned to a study of Nature, developing new approaches to ornament inspired by forms directly drawn from nature. This is most obvious in the work of Art Nouveau. Here is an example by an anonymous British designer from the first decade of the 20th century.

British Art Nouveau fireplace circa 1907 - https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/building-garden/fireplace-tools-chimney-pots/large-unusual-cast-iron-edwardian-art-nouveau-tiled-fireplace/id-f_13382941/

This example from the Gamble House in Pasadena, by Greene & Greene, draws inspiration not only from a direct examination of natural forms but also from the architectural and decorative traditions of Japan. Central to the work of the Greenes is an appreciation for the intrinsic aesthetic qualities of the base materials. Wood is carefully chosen and prepared to emphasize its grain patterns and color. Clay based ceramics show their natural color. Forms are simplified to keep the focus on the materials themselves.

Fireplace, Gamble House, Pasadena - photo by Tim Street, https://gamblehouse.org/interior/

Frank Lloyd Wright made the pursuit of the qualities of natural materials central to his entire approach to design, from the smallest to the largest details. Here is the fireplace at the Robie House. Wright chose a flat, narrow brick and used brick colored mortar in the vertical joints, while using a cream colored cement in the horizontal joints. This emphasized the horizontal lines of brick and this emphasis was repeated from the stone dressings all the way to the entire, horizontal massing of the house.

Wright, Robie House - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicago,_robie_house_di_frank_lloyd_wright,_1908-1910,_salone_al_primo_piano,_03.jpg

Purcell & Elmslie, contemporaries of Wright and leading designers of the Prairie School created this pleasing composition, using materials and forms similar to Wright, but with a heavier and more muscular result. The fire grate ornament was repeated elsewhere in the house and the wood trim of the walls and ceilings integrates completely with the fireplace.

Purcell Elmslie, Babson House stables – 1915 - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/il0315/

To see more photos of the Babson House and purchase copies of drawings of it please visit my store.

Here are two examples of Frank Lloyd Wright's fireplaces designs for the American System Built Homes series. These homes could be purchased as standardized, pre-cut packages, assembled on site. Some 25 were built across the Midwest. They were relatively low cost houses and the designs are simplified but still show the same inspiration that is found in the Robie House and Wright's other more opulent designs.

Wright – System Built #2 - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/wi0260/

Wright – System built – 1916 - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/wi0716/

Wright's design for the Emil Bach house (1915) departs dramatically from his earlier symmetrical designs and points the way towards his later Usonian house designs.

Wright – Emil Bach House – 1915 - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/il0088/

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Check out this short video on things to think about when incorporating a fireplace into the design of your own home.

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In the early 1930s, out of a desire to address the changing economics of house construction and to broaden the availability of his house designs, Wright re-thought the entire construction system of houses, developing new solutions that were both more standardized and infinitely customizable to site and client. These Usonian houses almost always had a massive brick fireplace at their core. Often the kitchen and utility spaces backed up to it so that they all could share the same chimney and thus simplify the roof framing.

This photo shows the fireplace at the Pope House of 1950. More photos and drawings are available at my store.

Wright - Pope House - 1950 - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/va0437/

While Wright's designs moved towards a greater simplicity, which would later be very influential in the Mid-Century Modern movement, there was a counter-movement of the more theatrical and flamboyant Art Deco.

Here are a few examples of the full flowering of Art Deco design. Some are British and others American.

American, electric fireplace - http://www.modernismgallery.com/american+art+deci+streamline+electric+faux+fireplace/

British - https://www.architecturalantiquesandfireplaces.co.uk/product.php?id=503

Here is a stunning example of the fireplace and mantel integrated into an entire interior design.

http://www.sarahakwisombe.com/blog/2014/4/27/art-deco-style-101

This sleek American Art Deco electric fireplace is from the 1930’s. The cabinet is mahogany and has a frosted glass inserted top. The “fire” is in a space flanked by ribbed pillars all in white lacquer. The “fire” is twisted rods glass, illuminated from behind. The fireplace has been refinished and rewired. There is a switch on the side to turn the lights on and off. The fireplace is 57” wide , 16” deep and 40” high.

American, electric -

https://modernism.com/items/39/other/179-116-american-art-deco-lighted-electric-fireplace

Twisted glass rod insert

With the end of World War II Art Deco fell out of style and there was a dramatic shift back toward the simplicity pioneered earlier by Frank Lloyd Wright. The arrival of leading Bauhaus architects to the USA gave this change in direction further impetus.
In this example by Mies van der Rohe, for the Edith Farnsworth House (1945-1951) the presence of the fireplace is suppressed as it nearly disappears into the cabinetry around it.

Farnsworth House - photo by Yorgos Efthymiadis - https://divisare.com/projects/397743-ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe-yorgos-efthymiadis-farnsworth-house

However the majority of examples still retained the fireplace as the focal point of the space, typically taking advantage of the necessity of using masonry to make that masonry a counterpoint to the lighter structures around it.
This is an example by Claude Oakland, for one of Joseph Eichler's developments, dating from 1969.6

Claude Oakland, for Eichler – 1969 - https://www.dwell.com/article/gallery-eichler-home-claude-oakland-6d33061c

The following images are from the 1954 Book of Successful Fireplaces, published by The Donley Brothers Company. It provides a vivid glimpse into the changing American taste of the time.

https://archive.org/details/TheDonleyBrothersCoBookofsuccessfulfireplaces0001/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/TheDonleyBrothersCoBookofsuccessfulfireplaces0001/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/TheDonleyBrothersCoBookofsuccessfulfireplaces0001/mode/2up

Moving into the 1970s there is this example, by Frank Gehry at the Spiller House (1978).

Frank Gehry – Spiller House – 1978 – photo by André Corboz, Tim Street-Porter - https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/575264552399183444/

Since the 1970s 2 forces have pushed fireplace design into an entirely new direction. First, many traditional wood burning fireplace designs are inefficient and quite heavily polluting. Second, new technology has led to much greater freedom of design in gas fireplaces, which have at the same time become far more efficient, competing with gas furnaces as space heaters.
I leave you here with 2 recent and innovative fireplace designs that suggest how fireplaces can be used in yet new ways to complement interior space.

Bloch Design - http://www.bloch-design.com/modern-fireplace-design/

Town & Country Fireplaces – Helifire - http://townandcountryfireplaces.com/product/helifire-360/

If you have not already done so, please visit Parts 1 and 2 of this series, which covers Early American fireplaces from the late 1600s until the opening years of the 1800s, and 19th century designs.

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. So please drop by and pay me a visit.

Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful day!