752 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ling, crackling wannth of the open fire 

 as one of the most important elements 

 of the decoration of our homes. 



To us of the present day, with all our 

 imi)rovements and labor-saving devices, 

 which are all fine enough in themselves, 

 but which are apt to lessen our con- 

 sciousness of deepfer grounded artistic 

 longings and elements of life, the fire- 

 place has, until very recently, been a 

 neglected quantity. 



Indeed we hear far too infrequently 

 nowadays allusions to scenes where, as 

 Robert Bloomfield, the cobbler-poet, said: 



"Flat on the hearth the glowing embers lie, 

 And flames reflected dance in every eye;" 



and too many contemporary American 

 homes have been turned into enormously 

 erticient but rather soulless habitations 

 where the simpler, more graceful sort of 

 ideals are all too easily lost sight of. 

 In building a fireplace there are many 

 types to choose from. There are the large and elaborate 

 sorts for instance, which were the product of calm and 

 spacious days when magnificence in living was one of 

 the arts of life, and which can be reproduced to advan- 

 tage in very large and formal houses of the present 

 time. Then, too, there are the simpler and more inti- 

 mate and homelike products of our own Colonial days, 

 which were built, originally, during a period when the 



Photo courtesy of the Hayden Co. 



A reproduction of an old EngliHh paneled room of most elaborate design. 

 Tlie paneling is oal< and the carvings in old pear wood. 



Living room in an old Colonial House that has been restored by an architect for his own use. 

 Residence of Herbert M. Baer, Westport, Conn. 



home fireside was the final goal of existence and when 

 all social and national considerations revolved around 

 it as a central point. Indeed, in all modern periods of 

 history the fireplace has been developed as important an 

 architectural feature as it has been a rallying point of 

 social and family life. 



In the earlier types the fireplace opening is extremely 

 large, too enormous by far for present day use, but cer- 

 tain English and early American types are extremely 

 well calculated for use today. 



The design of the fireplace is, in fact, the one important 

 keynote in the successfully decorated room. Much is 

 gained, too, by building the fireplace into a paneled 

 wall, as the majority of those illustrated are built. 



In English houses the paneling is generally carried 

 around four walls of the room, while in the American 

 examples only one wall was paneled and the remaining 

 ones were plastered or papered. This shows in the pho- 

 tograph which heads this article and the plastered side 

 wall can be seen in the illustration of the living room of 

 Mr. Baer's house. 



In the design it is important that the use for which the 

 room is intended be taken into consideration, and that it 

 be in character and harmony with the room and with the 

 furnishing to be placed in it. 



Roughly speaking, there are three general types of 

 fireplace which are used at the present time. An exam- 

 ])le of the most elaborate type is found in Georgian work 

 such as that in the drawing room at Belton, of which an 

 interesting reproduction has been carried out by the 

 Hayden Company of New York, and reproduced through 

 their courtesy. 



The structural work in this room is built of English 

 oak and the elaborate wood carvings executed in old 

 pear wood. The mantel itself, as in the original, is exe- 

 cuted in marble as a contrast to the large amount of 

 woodwork otherwise used. In finishing the wood it was 

 thoroughly stained, and waxed to bring out its fine nat- 



