Our Other Websites
www.victorianfires.co.uk
also has Cast Iron Fireplace reproductions in Edwardian, Arts and Crafts and
Art Nouveau styles and Cast Iron and Timber mantles to suit where necessary.
www.vicfires.com
has original and reproduction Cast Iron Fireplaces in Edwardian, Arts and Crafts
and Art Nouveau styles and a range of mantles to suit.
www.C20fires.co.uk has original and reproduction Cast Iron Fireplaces from the whole of the twentieth century from the Edwardian Era to after the Second world war.
The Edwardian Era
Although Edward VII reigned from 1901-1910 the style known as Edwardian covers the period from around 1900 to 1920, after the end of the first World War.It is considered an age of elegance typified by the luxury and opulence of the Titanic.
Edwardian Fireplace Style
At the start of the Edwardian Era most fireplaces would still have been composed of a cast iron frame incorporating tilesets on sliders on either side, usually with a painted mantlepiece made from slate, pine or deal. Mahogany and oak mantlepieces were still popular but were never painted.
Tile panels had become even larger with the introduction of the Canopy on Legs around 1880 and they became very popular in Edwardian times. The canopy on legs dispensed with a cast iron frame for the tiles. The tiles were cast into their own panels and these were then placed on either side of the canopy at an angle depending on the size of the mantle surrounding the whole ensemble.
Tall mantles incorporating mirrors were an innovation of the Edwardian period and both cast iron, copper and tiled fireplace inserts were put in them. Marble mantles were still popular in grander homes but generally were in decline.
Completely tiled fireplace inserts were introduced at this time made by a technique called slabbing. Pastel tile colours became popular as people left behind the darkness of late Victorian style. The Art Nouveau style characterised by long curving and undulating lines based on sinuous plant forms often referred to as whiplash lines, was still popular in fireplace design but fell out of favour before World War One.
Copper handcrafted fireplace inserts influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement were also often found in larger homes. With the start of World War One, the cast iron fireplace industry ended. The fireplace factories changed over to war work and the dwindling popularity of black cast iron meant that it never revived. From then on fireplace inserts were slabbed from tiles.
