Please help me date my fireplace

[Hmmph]

We have recently moved house and have a fireplace in the lounge.
I am trying to work out if it is original or not.

Anyone good at dating fireplaces?

I am deliberately not revealing the age of the house...

Thanks. Is that a special wax? Or will normal beeswax be ok?

Good quality beeswax like Lord Sheratons.

Unless you love the fireplace you should replace it with a 1920s style more in keeping with the style of the property, you wouldn't regret it!

80s or 90s

I'm guessing it was put in just before your sellers bought the house as an "upgrade" to sell? But the mortar joints look quite fresh, so it could be just a few yrs old.

Be exact with measuring the quarry tiles - if they're nearer 6" chances are they're old...if they're bang on 150mm they're not.
My dad needed to extend a tiled section in our kitchen (original from c1910) in the 80s and was quite pissed off to find things had gone metric and he needed wider grout lines to compensate 🤭

Other than that, maybe a bottle of wine, bunch of flowers and a box of firelighters might work...😉

Just a thought, if you've any neighbours who've been there a long time they may know/remember when the fireplace was done if it isn't original. Alternatively, they may have something identical or very similar if it is original.

I have attached a pic of similar fireplace from my childhood home, we moved there in 1964 and I think the house would have been built in the 50's We often had a real fire in the winter, dated electric fire was just lifted out of the way. We used to sit on the little seats either side especially when we had visitors and adults got the chairs! My Dad moved in 2015 and fireplace was still there!

Thanks all. Decided to keep the fireplace. And the tiles if I can get the paint off and make them look nice!
It is interesting to know if it is original or not, but I like it. Might now have chosen it but it fits the house and looks stunning at Christmas. So no generic white surround or oak beam above for us.

My nan and grandad had the same fireplace, I got a bit of a jolt when I looked at the photo.
Their house was built in the 1920s, the fireplace was built the same time as the house

Looks in too good a condition to be 1930s as many posters say- bear in mind at that time it would have been a coal fire and that coal soot infiltrates all the mortar.
so I’d say someone’s DIY job in 80-90s. Quarry tiles were still fashionable in 80s - my parents had their kitchen floor done with them- useless as they’re very friable and on their uneven floor soon cracked

The photo @booksforever posted does look quite similar! I hope you find out whether it's original but I'm glad you're keeping it anyway.

We almost got replaced our door handles without realising they were original - so glad we didn't. Next door neighbour ripped out all their original internal doors, again not realising (or possibly not caring) that they were original

If it’s a first date, just meet up for a coffee.

Looks like early 20th.century, definitely worth keeping.

1980s
1970s ones didnt have curves and usually had wood trim.
1980s was the Spanish style fad, so curves and tiles.

I know relationships get a bad rap on here, but dating a fireplace is a bit drastic sorry couldn't resist

I'd also say 80s

We had one in the 1930s house I grew up in, although a bit wider than yours. It was in perfect condition as it was in the "best" room and only used occasionally.

Good to hear you're going to keep it, it's much nicer than all the bland fireplaces around today.

I hope I don't get burned!

Soda crystals, warm water , scrubbing brush. First house I bought, the carpet fitter suggested I scrub the bricks before he laid the carpet , rather than after 😳

Hmmm. The style could actually be original - we had some similar brick detailing in our 1915 house that I’m pretty sure was original, and one hideous brick monstrosity that definitely wasn’t. But I think the bricks look modern, and the metal does too. One clue might be if you can measure the size of the bricks - metric vs imperial bricks might give you a good clue.

Hi It looks like an original " Claygate" fire surround. Has the chimney been capped off ? As the bricks inside of the fire look like an add on to the orginal which would make sense if a gas fire was installed at some point. Painted tiles stripped will look lovely restored. Look orginal to me with an 80s add on to adjust for a gas fire

I think it's more 30s-50s in style rather than the 80s. It is very clean an crisp though which makes me think is been rebuilt or renovated.

I quite like it too. Nicer than the hideous decorative wooden monstrosity put into my 30s house in the 90s.

The tiles would look great painted black IMO.

This happened to the old floor tiles somewhere I worked. It was a “shiny” coating put on in the ?90s? which then peeled. The tiles were much much older and we got them stripped and they looked great (more Matt).

Thank you. My fireplace is a granite job rather than brick, the soot stains are impressive. I'll give it a go before we redecorate. :)

Saw that the brick sizes aren’t helping - might actually be that they’re brick slips on reinforced concrete, which was what we had here

Thanks. I found a Claygate catalogue from 1927 after your trip off (archive.org/details/ClaygateBrickfieldsLtd/page/n23/mode/2up) Whilst none are the same, the builder who built my house could have been inspired.

If it's not original, it is certainly in keeping.
The mantle piece looks very similar to the catalogue one- a thin but shaped hardwood.

The chimney isn't blocked (except by a door up there..?! Too scared to poke around too much!) And the chimney isn't capped.

My in-laws had this fire place new build late fifties