Blog

Bolection--Georgian-Era

Stone fireplace designs for your Georgian home.

09 Oct 2014

I thought you might find this interesting, and maybe helpful,  if I briefly talked you through the styles of fireplace found in the Georgian era.

Many of our customers live in beautiful Georgian properties, please take a closer look at the typical Georgian fireplace designs below.

As with much of the architecture of its time Georgian fireplace design was based on the classical orders and followed strict rules of proportion whilst employing a rich and varied range of decorative devices.

Stone fireplaces acquired a lighter and less robust appearance displaying crisply executed low relief carving and the use of inlaid coloured marble became popular, providing a striking contrast to the remainder of the fireplace which was always worked from statuary marble.

In the early 18th Century ‘eared’ chimney surrounds were also derived from door and window surrounds. The jambs might be plain, or with elongated consoles, or treated as pilasters, or might boast freestanding columns while the horizontal member above the opening was treated as an entablature and the mantelshelf as a cornice.

Carved console jambs are typical of the 1730s ad 1740s. From the mid 18th Century onwards there was an increasing diversity in chimneypiece forms.

As early as the 1780s the use of reeded decoration was becoming popular, both in timber and in marble chimneypieces. It conveyed the impression of fluting and reeded chimneypiece jambs were frequently used as an alternative to fluted pilasters.

Here are some of the stone fireplace surrounds that we hand carve today and that are fantastic copies of the originals.

Ashmore-GeorgianKeddleston-GeorgianBol---Georgian

Top Left: This is the Ashmore fire surround shown here in Bath stone, with its decorative and sophisticated stepped mantle, the Ashmore stone fire surround will work well in a traditional interior scheme. The sunflowers and ionic capital design on either side of the fire surround are hand carved and are shown here in Bath stone

Middle: Here we have a new addition to our range of stone fireplaces, this is the Keddleston fire surround shown here in Portland stone. This  highly detailed Georgian design has a break front mantel shelf and a plain central panel.

Right: Last but certainly not least we have our Bolection fire surround. The Bolection is a very popular choice for Georgian proprieties, with its decorative and classical proportions, the Bolection stone fireplace combines generous curves and classical lines suitable for any interior

“I really don’t think you can beat a stone fireplace! It is such a wonderful feature in a room and it is a good way of bringing warmth and style to your home.”