August, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



315 



Fireplaces 

 for the Summer Home 



By Esther Singleton 



^HE need of a fireplace, both useful and orna- 

 mental, is inherent in the descendants of the 

 settlers of this country. Even in New York, 

 where thousands of flat-dwellers never see 

 the cheerful blaze of the hearth, the tradition 

 is kept alive in steam-heated apartments by 

 the introduction of so-called decorative chimneypieces — n 

 practice which would make Mr. Ruskin and his followers 

 rightfully shudder. In the country many homes of people 



1 — A Brick Fireplace in a Hall 



2 — A Simple Shelf Affixed Above the Fireplace 

 Takes the Place of the Former 

 Elaborate Mantel 



of moderate means are heated with a fur- 

 nace in the cellar conveying hot air to the 

 rooms, while the meals are cooked on a 

 kitchen range. Of late years, however, 

 people who like to spend a few months of 

 the year in homes of their own in the coun- 

 try, have returned to the custom of their 

 English, Dutch, and French forefathers 

 and warm the rooms with open fires of 

 blazing logs. 



An old English saying was that the way 

 to build a house was first to construct the 

 massive chimney and then build the house 

 round it. With the central mast of brick 

 and stone firmly planted in the ground, 

 the rooms could then defy the assaults of 

 frost and tempest. 



The well-to-do of our great cities, if we 

 may believe the wails of the suffering 

 tradesman, show an inclination to protract 

 their residence in their country homes later 

 year by year, some not returning to town 

 till the approach of I hanksgiving. The 

 pleasures of the fireside, therefore, on rainy 

 days and chilly evenings are greatly en- 

 hanced by the artistic form and decoration 

 of the chimneypiece and hearth with its 

 furnishings. Architects have not been slow 

 to cater to the taste for chimneypieces in 

 the old English style and that of the Dutch 

 as shown in the pictures of the great 

 masters. In many localities the land yields 

 in numbers all too plentiful cobble-stones 

 of various forms and sizes. These, in 



