of the photographic illustrations shown.

The width of the hearth is ordinarily made about sixteen or eighteen inches beyond the face of the opening with the average size fireplace, twenty inches or even more with larger ones. This width should be increased, of course, if the opening is made considerably larger. The question of materials for the hearth and facing will be discussed in the next chapter.

The chimney itself should extend at least a foot or two above any nearby roof ridge and it should work without any cowl, whirligig or other device of that type on the top. There is no great objection to having the opening a horizontal one at the top of the chimney, although in that case if the flue is nearly straight throughout its course, some rain will find its way down to the hearth in a hard storm. In most cases there is enough bend in the flue to prevent this, and if not it may be avoided by covering the top of the chimney with a stone and having the openings vertical ones on all four sides just under this.

All of the brickwork throughout chimney and fireplace should be laid in first-class cement mortar which consists of one part Portland cement to three parts clean, sharp sand. Although lime mortar was used in all brickwork up to recent years, it is not durable, particularly in the vicinity of heat.

MISCELLANEOUS ODD FORMS

There are many unusual forms of fireplace with which we are not particularly concerned. For example, one sees occasionally an opening shaped like an inverted heart or like an ace of spades. It is possible to make a fireplace of this kind work satisfactorily, but it is by no means certain that this result can be accomplished at the first trial nor that the fire will continue to work properly under all conditions. It is safer always to adhere to the established type of rectangular opening, or to depart from this only to the extent of having the top an arch of large radius. Whenever the top is permitted to vary more than a slight extent from the horizontal there is the danger of having the smoke escape into the room at the top.

The inglenook seldom fails as a dispenser of home cheer. Frequently the seats are placed too close to the fire

There is one other type that deserves special mention and that is the double fireplace, where two openings in adjacent rooms are served by a single flue between them. The only way in which this affects the two vital principles mentioned above is that the cross-section area of the flue should be one-tenth of the combined areas of the openings. The throat will in this case be in the middle of the chimney with the smoke shelf on either side of it. It is essential in a fireplace of this kind that there be no disturbing draft tending to pass through the opening from one room to the other.

Still another type which is even more rarely seen is the open fire in the middle of a room, such as may be desired occasionally in the lounging room of a large club. Such an apparent anomaly could be secured by suspending a metal flue and hood from the roof, so that the lower edge of the truncated pyramidal form at the bottom would form the upper side of the fireplace “opening” at a convenient height above the hearth of brick, stone, tile or concrete. It is conceivable that an effective and thoroughly practical fireplace could be thus devised, having the flue and hood of wrought iron or copper, suspended and steadied by chains or bars from the ceiling and surrounding walls. In such a form the same principle of a fixed ratio between opening (here the entire perimeter of the hood multiplied by the distance above the hearth) and cross-section of flue would have to be observed, and here also it would be well to provide as fully as possible against the presence of disturbing drafts.

FACINGS AND MANTELS

There is not a particularly wide choice of materials available for the finish of the hearth and fireplace. Stone, brick, cement and tile exhaust the possibilities, although with combinations of these we have all the variety that we could wish.

Stone is suitable only in certain environments—the informal shack or log cabin chiefly, though of course it is impossible to make any hard and fast rule in the matter.

Brick is almost never out of place. Perhaps it is the association with the fireplaces that have been built by our fathers and grandfathers, or perhaps it is the inherent worth and fitness of the material itself that puts it forward as a first choice. Undoubtedly the practical consideration that it is easier and more economical to build has something to do with the matter.

Concrete is a newcomer in the field of fireplace facing and as yet it cannot be said to have shown any particular reason why it should displace the other materials. With the ordinary heat developed in an open fire of wood there is no likelihood of cracking the concrete facing if the material has been properly mixed and applied, although there seems to be a vague impression that this might be a real danger. The color of concrete gives it no particular recommendation, for it is one that remains unchanged by fire, though not unstained by smoke. Brick, on the other hand, and tile, have the very closest possible association with fire in the making, which gives them a peculiar fitness for this purpose.

Caen stone or its clever representation in cement serves well for the more formal type of mantel and facing

Tile, the last of the four materials, gives more latitude in design than any of the others, sometimes too much latitude we feel. If understandingly used, nothing could be more appropriate and attractive, but tile has been used so carelessly that somehow we have a feeling that the tiled fireplace is for show rather than for use. In any case, there is no question whatever regarding the unfitness of the glazed tiles which have made horrors of thousands of pseudo fireplace openings. It is only the mat-glazed or unglazed tiles that have any right to be used in such a place.

Since this little volume has for its subject the fireplace rather than the mantel, little need be said regarding the latter outward form, though there is no doubt that a whole book on the subject might profitably be written. To touch upon the subject as lightly as space will permit, we can probably do no better than to suggest the obvious type of mantel for one or two of the more common architectural styles, and recommend that in other styles the architect be allowed sufficient latitude in design and expense to distinguish this important feature of hall, living-room, dining-room or library with the characteristics of the style he has worked