34 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
A Footnote to Decorative Evolution 
Its Vicarious Evolution 
T he lambrequin has had a checkered 
career. It rose to a zenith of glory in 
the gaudy days of mid-Victorian mussiness, 
was cast into the nadir of desecration in 
the era that reacted to Victorianism, and 
now, in these piping times of houses that 
attain good taste, it comes creeping back 
again, like the cat with nine lives. 
There must be some reason, or the lam¬ 
brequin would have stayed dead. The rea¬ 
son is found in its original purpose: in the 
earliest stages of its evolution it was a 
smoke valance, a practical and utilitarian 
adjunct to the fireplace. There’s the story! 
Utility and Decoration 
Decoratively speaking, the valance has 
its unquestioned values. It will add the 
requisite touch of color; its shape may 
break up the severe rectangular lines of the 
fireplace; it can be made to cover a mantel 
that is an eyesore. 
For the sake of fire prevention it should 
be backed with a sheet of asbestos or 
sprayed with one of the fireproofing washes 
that are on the market. Otherwise it may 
be made as decorative as one wishes so 
long as it harmonizes with the color scheme 
and furnishing plan of the room. Thus, if 
the curtains have simple valances, the 
smoke valance can be made in the same 
fashion of the same material; if they have 
elaborate boxed valances piped with gal¬ 
loon, the lambrequin will follow in that style. 
But the important fact for the home 
decorator to remember is that the lambre¬ 
quin—despised and rejected fifteen years 
ago—has come back, and that, because to¬ 
day it has a reason for being. It is today 
both useful and decorative. 
Its size and shape will depend on the 
mantel. As the fireplace is the focal point 
of the room, it is necessary to have the dec¬ 
orations on it in perfect scale and color. 
By observing these principles the lambre¬ 
quin will justify its decorative existence. 
Our British forebears objected to smoke 
from a fireplace as much as do we. When 
Wallsend coal came into use in the 17th 
Century, the volumes of black smoke were 
even more objectionable than had been the 
acrid fumes of smouldering wood. To 
catch the whisps of smoke that curled out 
of the chimney throat unbeknown to those 
who sat before the fire, there was suspended 
from the mantel or strung across the firont 
of the fireplace opening a valance that 
turned smoke back into the chimney. These 
valances were often fitted and heavily em¬ 
broidered. On the back they were lined with 
some non-inflammable material against 
wayward sparks. Often they were pleated, 
like a window valance, but usually they 
hung from the shelf stiff and straight. 
The development from the purely utili¬ 
tarian smoke valance to the purely decora¬ 
In this view of an English cottage firenlace can be seen the primitive use of the smoke 
valance. It served a purely practical, utilitarian purpose 
tive lambrequin came in the course of the 
improvement in heating methods. When 
the fireplace was discarded by folks about 
the Centennial time and the stove usurped 
its place, the smoke valance or lambrequin, 
as it was known, was permitted to remain 
—as useless an addition to the mantel as the 
appendix is to the body. Then came the 
revolt against decoration without meaning, 
and the lambrequin, one of the worst of¬ 
fenders of that day, was given its interior 
decorative coup de grace. 
That it has come back is due to the fact 
that the fireplace has come back. Stoves 
were discarded when hot air, hot water and 
steam heating systems were invented, but 
the plumbing geniuses of the world have 
never been able to create any substitute for 
the cheery, comfortable open fire. With the 
revived fire on the hearth has come the re¬ 
vived need for the smoke valance on the 
mantel. Even the best built chimneys will 
refuse to work perfectly under some con¬ 
ditions, and against that chance the valance 
is used. It is quite a necessity where the 
poor construction of the chimney prevents 
})erfect drawing at all times. 
Addison Mizner, Architect 
Contrast the lambrequin on this mantel with the smoke valance on the fireplace above, 
and you read the story of its evolution into an adjunct both practical and decorative 
