What era are these fireplaces?

[Cabbagewhites]

When house viewing I’ve seen a lot of these kinds of fireplace, where the masonry seems to take up the whole of the wall and become a sort of weird shelf / seat. When were they popular?

I’d say 70s/80s but not sure exactly. My sister still has one in her house. We had one in a house in 87/88 but it was already there when we bought the house.

1970s/80s , my uncle built his own with added bottle glass!

The shelf/seat was for the TV which where huge and heavy in those days.

Late 60s and 70s I think.

And the little shelf underneath was for the vhs video tape recorder.

70s.
The decade of terrible style.

They're very satisfying to remove!!

Ahh! Thanks! I’d never considered that it was for the TV. I have a little shudder when I see them!

70s I'd say. I think they could look great if you had a 70s house and were going for a mid century sort of look and really went with the whole thing!

Definitely 1970s

Very 70s.

It's so depressing you didn't realise the shelf was for a TV! We had one of these fireplaces when I was a child. I feel about a hundred years old now!!

MiL has this in her home which she bought from new in 1962 & still lives there now.

TV on the right, hifi unit on the left. Plenty of room for a lamp, framed photos and statues too. Perfect for her.

Sure they will come back into fashion at some point!

I remember my Dad building one of these in our house in the late 70s /very early 80s. They were considered to be very stylish then and when we sold our house in the mid eighties it was actually a monstrosity selling point!

My parents had one like that built in to our new house in 1970.