What on earth is my fireplace?

[sorrel_101]

I just moved in (last week) to a large, unique Victorian house built in 1900.

The living room has a massive fire place which has been painted with a marble effect (not nice) - the fireplace is not metal and appears to be wooden, though the shelf may be slate (or just with some hardened coating on it)

it's 49" high and the shelf is 64" long (both approx)

it has a kind of orb thing in the middle with some engraving round it

it is now a gas fire which has been capped off so at the moment unusable as a gas fire and as a coal/log fire but we want to get it up and running again.

i just want to make sure that the fireplace isn't some wooden original that's been painted badly and possibly a 60's/70's badly painted replica?

if it is an original i'd get it stripped/restored but i just don't think it's likely.

i've attempted to attach a picture or two so if you've got any ideas - please let me know?

very greatful for any responses - thanks

Sorrel

 

[Schoolmarm]

The painted marble look was an original technique. There are people on here who can tell you if it is or if it is a modern job.
They would need a much closer and clearer pic of the marbling.

 

[Moo]

To my untutored eye that faux marble looks right for the period. People who wanted, but couldn't afford, the real thing would often use a painted effect - rather like the wood-graining that made common pine look like expensive oak or mahogany.
Please don't be in too much of a hurry to strip it all off; wait until them 'as knows have given their verdict!

ps If it were mine, I'd keep it as it is and let it dictate the rest of the decor in the room.

 

[sorrel_101]

ok i'll atach some more pics - though they're not very good as they're only taken with my phone - looking closely i can see wood grain through the orb on right hand underside of ir and there is a what looks like possible coating/virnish drip in one area?

View attachment 2View attachment 1

 

[sorrel_101]

and one more - sorry about all my typos btw - i can spell really!

 

[Moo]

Even so, I'm not sure if the stripped pine look would suit it. Or were you planning to paint it?

 

[LadyArowana]

it is now a gas fire which has been capped off so at the moment unusable as a gas fire and as a coal/log fire but we want to get it up and running again.


Sorrel

I suspect that the gas fire was capped off because it was an old/ non safety regs compliant device. We inherited a basket effect gas fire installed in a fireplace when we bought our house. I had a GasSafe engineer inspect all our appliances and he told me that it was not safe because it did not vent properly. The rules now are quite strict about airflow etc etc. There were options to make it functional again, but it was not as simple as just reconnecting the supply. It might be worth having that converstion before you commit yourself on what happens to the surround. In your photo it looks rather attractive, but it is difficult to be sure about anything without more information.

 

[sorrel_101]

oh yes we're going to get it fully inspected - i want all the gas piping removed and to make it a coal fire so we'll need to have quite a bit of work done to ensure it's safe i think.

if the fireplace is a 70's replica i think we'll probably remove it and replace it with a reclaimed fireplace of the same period - if it's original (which i really thoguht it wasn't as i know NOTHING about this stuff) then we'll do all we can to restore the flaking bits and look after it properly - definitely wont remove it if it's original.

 

[LadyArowana]

to make it a coal fire so we'll need to have quite a bit of work done to ensure it's safe i think.

Biff will be along shortly to tell you that coal fires are not "safe"...................

Having seen the extra pictures I agree with the others that it could be something original.

 

[sorrel_101]

thats ok Lady Arowana - i can cope with a bit of danger :wink:

i know coal fires aren't always the safest but i grew up with two fires and a coke boiler so know the basics and we're going to have our chimneys etc inspected (and mended coz it's a bit knackered up top) so we'll do all we can, but i shall see what convincing arguments Biff can give me

if this fireplace is original i would be gobsmacked and i'd probably be told off for saying it but i really was quite happy to rip it out and replace it!!!!!!!! but as i said before i don't know a thing about this period house malarky - the victorian terrace i grew up in had had its bay window chopped off, doors covered over etc, so i know a little bit about the tiled floors and doors but we had no fireplaces/surrounds left in theat house so had to put our own in, rather than having something there to try to identify.

we have a lovely hall floor here - but with a whopping 4m2 gap in it where they ran the gas pipes in - i thin this house has a lot of projects!

 

[Feltwell]

I suspect it's original and your varnish "drip" is where someone has coated it later. When they put the gas fire in it looks as if the original fireback was broken out - the brickwork you can see was never meant to be exposed.

As for the style of it - it wouldn't be my first choice of fireplace but I think it would grow on me if used as a starting point to decide the room decoration / furnishing from. I certainly wouldn't strip it.

 

[Feltwell]

if this fireplace is original i would be gobsmacked and i'd probably be told off for saying it but i really was quite happy to rip it out and replace it!!!!!!!!

Why should anyone tell you off? You're posting up and asking for comments & opinions before you start ripping stuff out! Nothing wrong with that!

A tip - go slowly, temper that initial rush of enthusiam to change things - you may regret it later.

How can you tell if the fireplace is original or not? Well, are you planning to redecorate? Because changing a fireplace almost always means repairing the plaster around it afterwards. Any marks to indicate this? No guarentee as the room or chimney breast may have been skimmed later, but certainly on mine it was obvious once the paper was off. Also mine was held in place with pozidrive screws - not very Victorian.

But even that's not a certainty - as it may have been pulled out to install the gas fire! However if it's surrounded by undamaged lime plaster - not modern pink gypsum plaster - then chances are it is original.

If the fireplace will come out it may have a makers mark on the back of the cast iron inset, from which you could find out when the design was registered and get an idea at least of the date it was made. Still doesn't mean it's original to your house though - may be a reclaimed piece that's been fitted later.

we have a lovely hall floor here - but with a whopping 4m2 gap in it where they ran the gas pipes in - i thin this house has a lot of projects!

Plumbers & electricians are responsible for an awful lot of damage! That's horrible but these things can usually be repaired. Some neanderthal hacked a trench across my tiled hall floor to lay water pipes - luckily they did this close to the back door, so a doormat hides it quite well. You can always cover it up with carpet for the moment - just watch carpet fitters with grip strips, mine has damage from those being hammered in :evil:

 

[sorrel_101]

If the fireplace will come out it may have a makers mark on the back of the cast iron inset

aaaaaahh here's probably the real reason why i think the fireplace isn't real - the bit with tiles in that looks cast iron? it doesn't appear to be cast iron. i'm not sure what it's made of but it's not magnetic and it sounds a bit plasticky when you tap it - not that it can be plastic as it would have melted when the gas fire worked, and not that that means the fire place/surround bit isn't real i guess but i'm sure the insert isn't - the tiles are a puzzler too but again, i know nothing about them.

the surround obviously had a different fire basket or something in before the one it has as it has holes for fitting it in to but the current one definitely doesn't fit.

i've attached a pic of the insert and also one side of the shelf that you can see up the chimney.View attachment 1

 

[Flyfisher]

if this fireplace is original i would be gobsmacked and i'd probably be told off for saying it but i really was quite happy to rip it out and replace it!!!!!!!!

Why should anyone tell you off? You're posting up and asking for comments & opinions before you start ripping stuff out! Nothing wrong with that!

Hear hear!

 

[Moo]

Any chance of some pictures of the rest of the house (inside and out)?
Not essential, of course, but Pukers tend to have an insatiable appetite for property porn - especially when it throws up such interesting puzzles as your fireplace.

 

[sorrel_101]

yeah sure i'll have a mooch about and take some pics - anything you want to see specifically. it's a very odd shaped house and it has what they call a car port now but i guess it would have been a big pair of doors for some kind of wagon and horse when it was built.

they've changed the tops of the bay windows (front and back) when they did the roof too i think so it's not as pretty as it once was but it's part of the history of the house really. we'll think about the roof at a later date! the stairs are also very weird and most of the rooms aren't square!!!!

i've made it sound ridiculous now but i promise i'll get some pics later - let me know if you want specifics

 

[JoceAndChris]

What an exquisite fireplace - to me at least, ( I'm no expert, sorry) it looks absolutely right for the period and could well be original. I'd pick out colours I liked within in and as the others have said use them to decorate the room - that turquoisy blue, or the biscuity brown. So much to choose from with that fireplace as a feature!

if this fireplace is original i would be gobsmacked and i'd probably be told off for saying it but i really was quite happy to rip it out and replace it!!!!!!!! but as i said before i don't know a thing about this period house malarky - the victorian terrace i grew up in had had its bay window chopped off, doors covered over etc, so i know a little bit about the tiled floors and doors but we had no fireplaces/surrounds left in theat house so had to put our own in, rather than having something there to try to identify.

As others have said, there's no crime in not knowing something. It's lovely that you're asking questions and finding out before you march on in there! I also have no special love of my fireplaces, but as I think they're original they're staying even though personally I'd like something much more elaborate- they're such a unique record of the house and how it was.

Is this on your bookshelves? It's good! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victorian-House-Style-Architectural-Architechtural/dp/0715398415/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273239636&sr=8-6

 

[sorrel_101]

well that deffo looks like a book to have on the shelf and nope - i most definitely don't have that one.

i have googled the fireplace so much but nothing matched - there were a couple of iron fireplaces with similar orbs or engraving, but no wooden ones and i didn't even know they would paint them like that!!!!!!! so i'm glad i'm got on this forum now - even if it does turn out to be from the 70's or something. i'd hate to have pulled something out that belonged to the house.

apparently (not sure how true this is but according to some of the documents we have for the house) the land was bought by a builder and he built this house and the one next door and lived in this one and when he sold it a few years later it was worth about £95 10 shillings and 3 pence or something funny.

 

[Penners]

I suspect it's original and your varnish "drip" is where someone has coated it later.

I agree - not that I'm any kind of expert.

But I have to add that I'm not sure I could live with that monstrosity. I reckon it's from the "Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink" school of design.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

It is rather assertive, but I suspect it's original, 1880s or 90s?

Though I'm surprised that it's survived this long.