Study fireplace

[mims&pip]

Hi all

I've just started working on Pip's study/office that is actually situated in a rather large landing space complete with original linen press and carved stone plaque commemorating the building/extending of our house and am unsure how to deal with the interesting chimney breast (see rather bad pic - hopefully I have resized this ok as have had issues in the past, lol!)

Anyway, not sure how well you can see it, but the breast is a) an unusual shape at the top and b) has a strange shelf-like projection at mantel shelf height. I had assumed the lower part was a later addition, but there is no obvious join line in the plaster at the side. However, there is a chimney pot on the roof that we both assumed was for this room - there are two on that stack - the other is for the hall fireplace below. The orange colour on the upper section is lining paper, btw, not plaster.

This room forms part of the 1924 extension to our house (that was built in 1853) and the lower rooms are very Arts & Crafts in style so I was hoping to uncover the remains (or at least the opening for) a spectacular period fireplace That said, I do have a rather nice reclaimed copper insert I could use here - just need to find a hole - and I'd love to do something with delft/de Morgan style tiles......but Pip seems to think there never was one. Would there have been a chimney (and breast) with no fireplace? The adjoining room has the chimney breast (actually on the outside) on the opposite wall.

Thoughts please chaps........



Mims x

 

[malcolm]

I guess if it was built in 1924 and since covered over the plaster will be modern (1950s or 1960s maybe) and not worth preserving. It would be odd to see a structure like that with no real fireplace - they didn't have central heating in 1924. Even our 1910 attic had a fireplace. I would hack the plaster off and see what is there.

The fire places on our 1910 ground floor appear to have originally been finished in brick. The funny shape of yours might suggest a decorative brick fireplace as they wouldn't have made that shape by accident.

I have one original 1910 fireplace still in brick, and one enormous and presumably late 17th century fireplace from the older part of the house that was messed with both by Edwardians and by 1960s man. I'm planning to get the hammer out to see if there is an inglenook in there. The worst that can happen is I need to lime plaster.

 

[mims&pip]

Thanks Malcolm. Call me sad, but I'm so pleased to have finally mastered the art of getting a pic embedded here :roll:

Yep, hacking off the plaster is the way forward, methinks! We do have a decorative brick fireplace in a ground floor reception room (not the one beneath this room) but that is very typically Arts & Crafts and is obviously one that was intended for a room that was meant to be on show. I do honestly think there must have been something up here though and will be investigating further tomorrow!

Good luck with your inglenook search

Mims x

 

[malcolm]

Arts and Crafts is great. I think people had a bit of fun making this sort of thing. Is the rest of your upstairs plain and cheaply done like mine to suit a lesser status, or is there any evidence of other design flourishes?

 

[mims&pip]

Well Malcolm, the main body of the house (three storeys plus cellar) is the original 1850s, although the one 1853 reception room had ceiling beams added to match those in the new rooms and the fireplace looks more Arts & Crafts than mid Victorian imho :wink: The bedrooms in the Victorian 'wing' have been stripped of their fireplaces and some period built in wardrobes have replacement louvre doors (lovely!)......

The majority of the house benefitted from newly fitted Crittall windows at that time, with nice leaded panes in some instances - I wasn't expecting to like these much, but they have grown on me, despite being somewhat draughty. Externally the garden front (not seen by passers by and usually a complete surprise to visitors) is much more detailed than the original part of the house and has typical Arts & Crafts details such as the verandah.

Regarding the upper parts of the Arts & Crafts extension - there are only two upstairs rooms in this part of the house and they do have *some* nice period details. The aforementioned study space has a rather lovely floor to ceiling built in linen press that retains its original brass handles. This area also has quite attractive staircase spindles - although sadly not with the Voysey-esque hearts I would have preferred :roll: Set into one wall is the carved stone plaque that commemorates that the house was built by a chap for his grandson. I'd love to know where this was originally sited as it can't have been on an upstairs outside wall of the 1850s building as it was obviously meant to be seen/read.......

The other room dating from when the house was extended was intended as the master bedroom, but we use it as a snug or upstairs living room. Unfortunately the fireplace is long gone from here too - in its place was a mahoosive ugly modern radiator but we ripped this out and have a reclaimed fireplace ready to go in (actually already screwed to the unpainted wall, lol!) - but there is an original and very nice deep window seat in the square bay overlooking the garden. A (Crittall) door from this room leads out into a small balcony - shame the weather's always too carp to sit out there :lol:

Mims x

 

[mims&pip]

Just adding some pics of today's progress - Pip refused to remove (or allow me to remove) any further plaster as he's not convinced this should be on our list of jobs to do :roll:

It would appear the breast has been built with a mix of engineering and normal bricks and I for one am not of the opinion there was not a historic fireplace here, but for now Pip wins

We also pulled back the previous owner's fitted carpet but no sign of a hearth - or alterations to the floorboards that would indicate one ever existed in that location. Furthermore, I measured the room directly below from chimney breast to opposite wall and compared with the dimensions of this room and they are exactly the same, indicating the lower, jutting out portion of the chimney breast up here has not been added on......

 

[mims&pip]

I'm still pondering what to do here - especially as Pip has just popped out to get the Landy's brakes looked at, leaving me home alone with hammer and bolster (a dangerous mix!) - as I'm certain the uncovered bricks indicate there may have been a fireplace opening.......

What to do though? Can I convince him the plaster just fell off of its own accord? :lol:

 

[plasticpigeon]

What kind of plaster is over the chimney breast? Lime or more nodern stuff.

 

[mims&pip]

What kind of plaster is over the chimney breast? Lime or more nodern stuff.

Modern stuff. Pip reckons it dates from the 1960s/70s :roll:

 

[livias]

I had a chimney stack in my last home which corbelled out on the ground floor to support the stone in front of the hearth on the floor above, so following the line of the bricks below may not help your understanding. The brickwork does look like new infill and it must be in front of something other than blank wall. Have you decided whether to sell the house yet? If you will do then maybe Pip is right, the could be a can of worms in there which you don't need to uncover. Of course there might be a nice old fireplace behind the infill too. Boroscope? Take out one brick and insert arm and camera?

Why does Pip think there was no fireplace here? Looks to me as if there was ...

 

[88v8]

I'm still pondering what to do here ...

If you're staying, knock it off, you know you want to.

If you're not, would it add value?

Ivor

 

[mims&pip]

Thanks for the additional thoughts/comments Livias and Ivor

Unfortunately we're still not completely decided on the "to move or not to move?" question. I think we most probably will, but maybe not in the shorter term, so perhaps in 3-5 years* Regarding the effect on value, Ivor - from discussions with Plastic Pigeon regarding what is considered desirable in this part of the world, I seriously doubt whether the addition of a historically correct fireplace would add any value.....indeed it might sadly have the opposite effect.....not that I would let that stand in my way once I get a bee in my bonnet to do right by a house!

The boroscope suggestion is a good one, Livias - will strongly consider doing that! I think Pip is looking at damage limitation and doesn't really have much appetite for cans of worms, having been down that path many times in previous houses, lol :lol: To my mind, there must have been a fireplace there - why else would there be a chimney pot on the roof (unless for aesthetic symmetry reasons?) - yet the lack of obvious hearth says otherwise......also the shape/size of the space doesn't really lend itself to a potentially open fire (historically, I mean) in that location as it is adjacent to the head of the staircase and would provide very little walk through space between banisters and flames!

For now we've abandoned the chimney breast wall and are concentrating our efforts elsewhere in the room :wink:

Mims x


*Although knowing me, that could well change tomorrow :roll:

 

[mims&pip]

Hi all

Just updating with a few more pics showing my progress......

The plaque looks much better now it's no longer surrounded by the offending textured paper, as does the chimney breast! We've decided to go fairly neutral in here, colour-wise, although still keeping it period and are using a favourite colour of ours, Pale Oak by Craig & Rose, a colour favoured by CFA Voysey. We've used this in several houses over the years and already painted the walls of the 1924 breakfast hall from where the secondary staircase leads up to this space in this colour.

Some walls shown in these pics are only in the prep stage and some are yet to be fully stripped. Pic 2 shows the truest likeness of Pale Oak.

Excuse the carp everywhere, including the delightful shot of Crittall window (overlooking the balcony) complete with waste paper bin......trying to rival Hetty the Hoover in photo-bombing, lol!

 

[mims&pip]

Apologies, couldn't add all pics in that post.......

The plaque commemorating the building of the original house is more of a feature now. I would love to know where this was originally sited on the old part of the house as it is unlikely it would have been here on the first floor part way up an exterior wall. We believe it was placed here (cut into the chimney breast belonging to the room the other side - currently a bathroom, but formerly a bedroom we think) when the house was extended in 1924. I spent the whole of Sunday on Find My Past (free weekend :roll: ) searching for info about the house and its builder. I found out loads of stuff, but infuriatingly nothing to suggest who actually lived here pre the 1911 census, not helped by the fact the house name was dropped at some stage and the lane formerly had a different name......deeds-wise we only have docs going back to the 1970s.....grrrrrr!

We remembered we had this little copper fireplace insert in the garage, having purchased it on eBay about ten years ago and never got round to using it.....it may well find a home here

Mims x