What on earth is my fireplace?

[essexbearhunter]

Can I offer a middle path?

From the pictures it is trying - and trying very successfully - to be something like a marbleised slate fireplace from the High Victorian era.

The Edwardian era produced interesting - and now valued furniture - inspired by the Georgian period - but also some horrible machine-carved pieces that betray so little care in their conception and creation that nothing gladdens the eye, rendering them little more than utilitarian pieces worthy only of garage space at most.

If the fireplace is as good as it looks but not to your taste, careful removal for Architectural Salvage is the obvious answer. Although (going back to my Edwardian example) some purists will only settle for real Georgian (and have the necessary deep pockets), many would be delighted with a high quality later version if it feels 'right'.

PS. It may be that the Faux Marbre wooden surround is totally original (I don't remember that style being in vogue enough to have been reproduced). The mock cast iron insert, however, is often seen and reproduced to this very day so this could be a later marriage.

 

[Moo]

Have you asked the people in the house-next-door what sort of fireplaces they've got?

 

[sorrel_101]

next doors house is totally different to this one - your standard vitorian terrace and it used to be a fish and chip shop so it didn't have the features either in the first place or left behind (not sure if it ever was a house or just started straight off as a chippy - did they have them in 1900??) so they can't tell me what their fire places were unfortunately.

on the other side - those houses were built by a different builder about 10 years after this house was built.

i think i need to get someone round to look at this fireplace coz to me it's not the most attractive thing i've ever seen but if it's original i'll keep it gladly and look after it, but if it's something else we'll get rid of it one way or another, i don't even know if you'd class it as in good condition or not! can anyone recommend someone who comes out to check fireplaces out?

the insert definitely needs to go - it's not good!

 

[Moo]

Whereabouts are you?
There's bound to be at Ppuker within fairly easy reach of you. You may even end up with a queue of them!

 

[sorrel_101]

i'm in Rugby in the midlands (near Coventry & Birmingham ish)

if anyone wants to come and look at it they can get in touch - just hope they're not disappointed, still can't believe there's a possibility it's original - really does make me chuckle. i was being very rude about it last night.

 

[Feltwell]

(not sure if it ever was a house or just started straight off as a chippy - did they have them in 1900??)

Yes, they certainly did - Fried Fish dealers (as they were known then) were very much for the lower classes and would only have been likely to have been found in the poorer districts. Of course what was a poor district then might not be now! (And vice versa - I lived in a very posh but run down Victorian house as a student in Handsworth in Birmingham, pretty much next to where the riots started! In Victorian times it was clearly a good area)

http://www.blistshill.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=27

 

[lou]

This is almost definitely original. I have almost exactly the same fireplace in my 1906 house and next door has it too. It is painting slate. Ours was painted with thick white paint so when I Nitromorsed it (25 years ago) it took off all the marbleing but next doors, and many of my neighbours have the paint intact. I agree it doesn't look wonderful but I would probably have kept it if I'd realised it was original as so much work went into it. However, the black slate does look fantastic too.

 

[Schoolmarm]

I think the tiles have been nicked from a hearth as the top and bottom ones look like edging tiles.

 

[sorrel_101]

brilliant - never knew that about fish and chips - this certainly wasn't a well off area but it wasn't the worst area back then either so i'm stull unsure as to whether it was a chippy back then or not.

i need to do some investigation into the house i think - though i can barely read the old deeds with their fancy language etc!

 

[Moo]

While you're at it, you will use your camera to record (and share) information, won't you?

 

[jocelyn plummer]

My first reaction was that it is almost certainly original to the house, certainly typical of the period. On looking at your pics I think that it is possible that it has been tampered with at some time, or perhaps damaged and re constructed with pieces from elsewhere.

 

[njr_26]

I live in Rugby and I have marble painted slate as well. My house was built in 1896. Mine was painted in white gloss paint when I moved in but a hot air gun on a low setting enabled me to remove the modern paint whilst keeping much of the marbled effect. It took a very long time to do, and I had to repaint the gold lines around the edges of the panels as they came off. It doesn't look as good as yours but I wanted to keep as much of the original finish as possible.

 

[Penners]

assertive

:lol:

On rare occasions, a word can be worth a thousand pictures.

 

[arl]

Certainly original, im guessing about 1890. I think the tiles are orignal too. I think its lovely. Definately dont strip it or paint over it. My friend has a very similar one in her terrace house. She didn't like it very much when she moved in as it was very imposing and dominating in a small room. She has since redecorated the room in a more masculine heavy style and it looks fantastic now. Much better than the standard giant TV as a focal point