When people think of fireplace designs of the late 18th century, the Adam style often springs to mind. Of the Adam brothers, Robert (1778-92) was the most famous, and he is considered one of the finest designers of all time – the Adam style was to dominate British architecture for three decades. Robert studied in Italy from 1754-58 and then returned to England, his mind filled with new ideas from the excavations of Herculaneum, a city that had been buried in 79AD. The source of Adam’s design was original Roman decoration – he disliked the boldness of the Palladian style and instead found satisfaction in much lighter and classical designs. Rather than placing emphasis on the individual fireplace, the Adam style linked the chimneypiece to other features in the room using a range of colours such as pale green, blue, pink, yellow and deep red.

Through the use of such colours, the chimneypiece would be linked to doors, walls and skirting boards. Ornamentation was also incorporated such as scrolls and swags, small paintings and medallions. The use of colour in fireplace designs had never been used before to such a degree. Motifs associated with the Adam style include trails or scrolls in batwing or spider-web patterns, oval or round medallions featuring bas-reliefs of classical figures, anthemion leaves and slender swags, and Adam referred to these motifs as ‘grotesque’ – the Romans used the term to refer to the beautifully light decorative style used in their palaces, baths and villas.

Fireplace inserts of the late Georgian era were often made from coloured marble, whilst others were built from or featured scagliola – this was an artificial marble, made up of powdered marble, lime, gypsum and sometimes plaster. All this was glued together and polished, and produced a very good marble imitation, the main difference being that scagliola was much warmer to the touch than marble. An Italian craftsman named Bartoli was a master in the material and Robert Adam incorporated his skills in the production of many late Georgian fireplaces. This was known as Bossi work and involved carving into white marble and filling the carvings in with coloured marble or scagliola.

In the late 1770s, Josiah Wedgwood produced decorative cameos made from basalt and jasper and in colours of blue or green and white, to be set in marble and wood fireplace surrounds. However, simple dwellings had plain fireplaces consisting of slabs of stone or slate with a slate or wood mantel.

The less famous Adam brother John was a partner of The Carron Company, manufacturers of Georgian cast iron surrounds, grates, fenders and fire–irons, demonstrating that the Adam brothers were concerned with the practical requirements of the fireplace as well as the style. All manufactured pieces displayed the neo-classical motifs and elegant curves associated with the Adam style. Firedogs and dog grates were used in wood burning fireplaces, whilst hob grates for burning coal became very popular in the late 18th century.

Baroque: The grand baroque fireplace was very popular amongst the early Georgian elite. The rich had large marble mantelpieces in their homes, often paired with elaborate wood overmantels which had baroque paintings built into a central panel. Manufacturers of the time had numerous design influences to choose from, but most Georgian fireplaces were very plain. These are very rare today and very expensive because of their rarity.

Palladian: By 1720, architects began to turn away from the baroque and replace it with something far simpler that would suit the majority of interiors. The neo-classical Palladian style was perfectly suited for the job.

Rococo Fireplace

Rococo: From Europe came the light, fresh Rococo style. Popular in French and German townhouses, the Rococo disliked the Palladian rules of symmetry and a fireplace opening consisted of curved strips of marble in an elongated ‘s’ shape -these were known as serpentine lines. Surrounds were usually made from coloured marble, with the most popular being marbre d’Antin, a rich mixture of red, yellow and violet, streaked with grey. Mirrors in the overmantel were very popular, and these were usually oval – in some homes, the entire fireplace opening was lined with mirrors. Chimneypieces were often decorated, with gilded bronze, known as ormolu, on moulded plaster or carved wood. Common Rococo motifs included delicate flowers and foliage and ribbons.

The Gothic: The emergence of the Gothic came about as a direct result of the influence that the Rococo style had on Georgian Britain. It was more a fantasy than the copying of a medieval decoration, as demonstrated by Horace Walpole, author and son of Sir Robert Walpole. In 1749, he purchased a house in Twickenham named Strawberry Hill. He designed his fireplaces using ideas taken from tombs in Westminster Abbey – the chimneypiece in the round room was based on the tomb of Edward the Confessor, whilst the library fireplace imitated the tomb of John of Eltham. Walpole demonstrated that one’s taste could be adequately expressed through the fireplace.