ESSENTIALS IN THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THIS MOST IMPOR¬ 
TANT FEATURE OF LIVING-ROOM, DINING-ROOM, BEDROOM AND HALL 
Photographs by J. M. Elliot, C. H. Claudy, M. D. Northend and others 
B ACK in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries our ancestors 
built their wood fires on the stone floor of the great halls 
and let the smoke 
find its way out as 
best it might. The 
experience of many 
a new home-owner 
to’-'day, coaxing 
along the first fire 
on his new hearth, 
prompts the thought 
that we might suffer 
less from the smoke 
if we did it that 
way now. 
It is a curious 
thing, when you 
turn it over in your 
mind, that in three 
centuries of chimney 
building we have yet 
to learn, as a race, 
how to construct a 
fireplace and flue so 
that it will do the 
work expected of it. 
There are fireplaces that do not smoke, of course, but they work 
in spite of their designers, not because of them. It is an easy 
matter to make a fireplace draw; simply make the flue large 
enough and it will draw not only the fire but the fire-tools and 
a rug or two for good measure. That is the sort our Colonial 
ancestors built. On a cold night they blistered their toes before 
the mighty blaze and developed rheumatism and influenza 
through the mighty wind that rushed past them on its way up the 
chimney. Ninety per cent of the heat went up the chimney—but 
then cordwood was to be had for the cutting. 
If we are to take real comfort and enjoyment out of our fire¬ 
places we have got to give up this almost universal desire for a 
big fireplace. 1 have yet to find the man-about-to-build who 
does not ask at once for “one of those fine big fellows—the kind 
that burns whole cordwood.’’ I suppose this is based on the 
assumption that if a small fireplace is a good thing, a great big 
one is that much better. Well, it isn’t. Have your big cordwood 
blaze, if you like, in your summer shack or seaside bungalow, 
where the cheer of a roaring fire is the sole desideratum rather than 
just plain solid comfort. But a big fireplace is too powerful a 
ventilator for the home living-room; it needs air—a great quantity 
of it, and the fire will draw it into the room through every crack 
and crevice of doors and windows to feed the flames. And that 
means draughts. So take my advice and be content with a fire¬ 
place about three feet in width and two and a half feet high. You 
can construct such a fireplace along scientifically correct lines 
In this South Yarmouth studio a simple wood 
shelf is the only embellishment of the chim¬ 
ney breast 
( 7 ) 
