Glossary: The Essentials of Fireplaces

Apex
The highest point of an arch

Art Deco
An art movement from the 1920s and 1930s known for its geometric forms and modernism.

Art Nouveau
An art movement that ended during the early 1900’s known for its sinuous shapes.

Arts and Crafts
A development of the Aesthetic Movement that influenced other movemants including Art Nouveau that commonly used natural forms such as birds, blossom and fruit.

Bars
A style of fret.

Barley Twist

Blind Fret Detail
Applied mouldings in the inchAdams Style inch

Bolection
A moulding around a panel, projecting beyond the surface of the framing.

Boxwood Stringing
Very thin lines denoting the edges of veneered panels

Break front
Where the frieze of the mantel projects forward in the middle

Bronze
An alloy of copper, tin, zinc.

Caddy Style
The mantelpiece does not overlap. It has flush edges

Castellated
Having inchturrets inch or inchbattlement inch details like a castle

Chamfered
Bevelled or sloped .

Construction Hearth
A solid area of floor on which a fireplace stands.

Contemporary Stove
A stove manufactured in the twenty first century.

Corbel
A projection that supports weight.

Cross Banding
Vertical veneer panels usually 1' section

Daylight Opening
The opening in a mantel. Also called the sight opening.

Dentil moulding
Castellated moulding in a small section

Edwardian
Refers to the reign of any King named Edward. On this site it refers to the reign of Edward VII (1901-1910).

Entablature
The part of a mantel on top of the columns or jambs with roundels, corbels and other decoration,

Faience
Glazed coloured earthenware.

Fibreback
A ceramic coated heatproof fibre used behind a gas fire.

Fillets
A way to reduce the daylight opening. They are made in metal, wood, slate etc.

Finish
The final polish on a mantel. It can be a wax finish, spray finish, a french polish etc.

Fireback
The back wall or ceramic back of a fireplace using solid fuel.

Firebasket
A portable firegrate.

Flue
A chimney, the pipe for conveying hot air and smoke away.

Fluted
Ornamented with grooves.

Fret
The decorative front covering a grate, usually free standing.

Frieze
The decorated band across a mantel. Usually the same width as the jambs

Grate
A framework of cast iron bars for holding a fire. Victorian grates have no legs. Stool grates are free standing

Half round beading
Fine detail at the edges of ornate mantels

Hearth
The part of the floor on which a fire is made or a tiled or stone structure on which a fireplace stands.

Inset or Insert
The tiled, stone or metal fireplace containing the fire opening that is surrounded by a mantel.

Jambs
The sidepieces of a fireplace

Keystone
The stone at the apex of an arch.

Leg returns
The outside return of a mantel goes into the wall. The inside return goes to the insert. The difference between the two is the rebate.

Lintel
The strong support across a fire opening.

Living Flame Gas Fire
A gas fires with a burning coal effect made to suit an original or reproduction fireplace.

Mackintosh
Scottish designer of furniture and also mantels

Mantel
Also called a mantelpiece. The ornamental structure over and in front of a fireplace.

Mantelshelf
The ornamental shelf over a fireplace.

Manteltree
The lintel or arch of a fireplace. Not a very common term these days.

Mantle
The part of the earth beneath the crust that surrounds the earth's core and is the main part of the earth's mass. The mantle has nothing to do with fireplaces but it does get very hot!

Marquetry
Work inlaid with pieces of various coloured woods.

Motifs
Applied Decoration.

Odeon Style
Resembling streamlined Odeon cinema style architecture with high towers and sweeping lines. Odeions were the amphitheatres of ancient Greece and the name Odeon was first used by cinemas in France and Italy in the 1920s. Oscar Deutsch appropriated the name and claimed that it stood for inchOscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation inch. The first of his Odeons, built in a Moorish style, opened in Birmingham in 1930 and the first of the streamlined Odeons was South Harrow in 1935. He used the archictects AP Starkey, Harry Weedon, Andrew Mather among others. Many cast iron fireplaces were made in this Odeon style as well as wooden mantels.

Original
When refered to on this website an original is usually a fireplace, mantle or other item manufactured during the twentieth century. It can have other meanings. For example in sculpture an inchoriginal inchis the actual piece that the artist delivers to the foundry from which inchoriginal production inch pieces are made.

Original Art Nouveau Fireplace
A fireplace made in the Art Nouveau style which ended in the 1910s.

Original Art Nouveau Mantel
A mantel made in the Art Nouveau style which ended in the 1910s.

Original Arts and Crafts Fireplace
A fireplace made in the Arts and Crafts style which ended at the start of the Twentieth Century.

Original Arts and Crafts Mantel
A mantel made in the Arts and Crafts style which ended at the start of the Twentieth Century.

Original Edwardian Fireplace
A fireplace made during the reign of Edward VII

Original Edwardian Mantel
A mantel made during the reign of Edward VII

Patina
Specifically the patina refers to a film of copper carbonate that forms on a bronze or copper surface but it can also refer to oxides on the surface of other metals or surface effects on woods etc. that occur with ageing. It is a highly desirable effect.

Quartered
Four book matched segments of veneer- a mark of quality

Rebate
The difference between the outside and inside leg return

Reproduction Fireplace
A fireplace manufactured by us in a number of styles from the twentieth century.

Reproduction Mantel
A mantel manufactured by us in a number of styles from the twentieth century

Rope Twist
A classical decoration used as edging detail on a mantel.