Fireplace Mantels - Stone or Wood

Fireplaces and fireplace mantels are certainly a defining element in home decor. You would think--given that we've had fire for 500,000 years, and houses for about 4,000--that they have a long history. They don't. Indoor fires for cooking and heating were kept burning on a central hearth in the main room, with a hole cut in the roof to let the smoke escape. The first chimneys and fireplaces weren't developed until in the Middle Ages in Europe.

Fireplaces had clearly become common by 1347, when one of the earliest references to them was a passing mention of chimneys being destroyed in an earthquake in Venice, Italy. Just 20 years later, a Francesco de Carrao, while visiting an inn in Rome, was dismayed at the fire pit in his room. He ordered his servants to build a chimney on the spot. They did so, adding his coat of arms above the two fireplace mantels. Ever since the focal point of almost any room with a fireplace has been that fireplace.

Not all have mantels, of course. Most, though, do--whether a single shelf, a marble or tile surround, or traditional carved wood. Accessories, mantels, iron tools, guards, and screens have been decorative from the onset. Between the style of fireplace mantels and surrounds, you either define a room from the start or give it an entirely new look you'll enjoy for years.

Fireplace Mantels over the Centuries

By the breakup of the feudal system in Europe in the late 1400s, the vast fireplace in the central hall of Northern European houses began to evolve. The Italian Renaissance took hold across Europe and interior design became more elaborate. Fireplaces of the wealthy were often combinations of intricately carved woodwork and marble. Flues and mantels became more efficient at capturing smoke and generating heat.

By the 17th and 18th centuries, fireplace surrounds and fireplace mantels became a fine art--thanks to artisans like woodcarver Grinling Gibbons and ironworker Jean Tijou. They became recognized as a central element of interior design. In the American colonies building was at first simpler. For the wealthy along the East Coast, paneled rooms and pedimented mantels and overmantels were common by the end of the 18th century.

On the frontier, log cabins and rough beam fireplace mantels were typical. This continued well into the 19th century and moved west with the frontier. During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, interior design became crowded. By the turn of the 20th century, the fireplace was almost purely ornamental--rich in tradition, strong in character, adaptable in style--in short, an element of interior design.

Fireplace Mantels as a Design Element

Fireplaces, which without exception increase the value of a home today, are more than ever the focal point of a room. The style of fireplace mantels sets the tone and character of your home and decor. Whether rough-hewn stone or finely carved classical moulding, the mood is yours to strike.

You may tend to the classical with oriental rugs, antique furniture, and traditional elements. Then again, you might favor abstract paintings, Frank Lloyd Wright lines, art deco, and a glass-screened "corner" fireplace as a partial room divide. Maybe the informality of the country cottage--the raised hearths, brick surrounds, oak beam mantels, and oval braided rugs--is more appealing. Whatever your instinct, follow it, and set your style at the hearth and the fireplace.