Tiling inside a fireplace?

[PinkCamelias]

In the house we bought there are fireplaces in all rooms. They have not been used for decades and they are closed off. Only the reception rooms fireplaces have decorative metal inserts, and the others look like on this photo. I think it could be painted brick, but it’s smooth with no brick texture. Would it be a good idea to tile this white wall inside? I found beautiful, old, small square tiles in the basement I could use, although I’m not sure they would be enough so perhaps I would need to buy some new tiles to add. I don’t know if I would manage to find the metal inserts to buy and add because they don’t seem to be available here in jumble sales or antique shops; at least I haven’t yet found any (not UK).
So my question is, would that look ok just with tiles, or better leave it as is? The house is from early 1900s.

Early 1900s might have had decorative Art Nouveau tiles. Often lovely colours with flowers in a symmetrical form. The attached are new but there’s lots of inspiration in books and on websites.

Thank you! They're lovely and quite what I had in mind, although the tiles I found are a bit different, less geometric.
But would it be fine all riled? Usually it's the strips on the sides and in the front while inside is a metal insert.

I would paint the white bit a darker colour and see what that looks like first. Maybe the dark brown of the mantle piece? Or black? If you knock on it, is it hollow? Could it be plasterboard?

@Geneticsbunny I don't think it's plasterboard, but I'll check. If it were, would you suggest removing it?

I don't know.
As you cant get a cast iron insert then I would probably just paint them. I think the tiles might look really fake if they are just stuck on because they will stick out but I am not sure. Were you just going to to two rows on either side like a fireplace? What about the hearth bit?

Ideally I’d have two rows on each side and on the hearth, and an insert. I don’t think I’ll manage to get inserts, though, they’re hard to come by and very expensive. I don’t know if metal panels, no insert, would be possible either - I keep on looking, but nothing so far in my location, or online very expensive too. I attach a photo of one of the complete fireplaces I have (panels, no insert). In two bedrooms the fireplaces are boarded over with a straight panel, and there the hearths are made of stone (black fireplace on the attached photo). I think I will leave these two as they are. For the ones I am considering tiling, I found the below photos as an inspiration what it might look when fully tiled.

@PinkCamelias I really like the white fire surround with the blue grey tiles. We have bricks at the back of a modern fireplace but we have a wood burner. The blue tiles probably would get in a mess if you had a real fire! Decorative - yes. Look brilliant,

It does look nice, doesn’t it @TizerorFizz ! It could be an option for this fireplace because it has a light colour surround. Note the gas pipe sticking out - they are in all fireplaces, I don’t know when the gas stoves were removed, but I suppose it explains why there are no original inserts left.

I think I’d change the brown fireplace first, it’s not very nice. I like the plain stone ones in your link.

Thanks @Mirabai but it’s not an option! I can’t imagine what my husband would say if I told him we were ripping out a fireplace now :) Personally I think it’s very nice, it’s made of marble. Unfortunately I don’t seem to have a better picture available.

I like the brown fireplace too.

I think the metal back has been added as I have never seen a Victorian fireplace like that.

I suspect that either the original cast iron inserts were all removed and the fireplaces were converted into gas fires sometimes in the mid 20th century or maybe they were fitted then as "period" fireplaces with more modern gas fires. I think that's why they have those gaps in the middle of the back. Maybe for flueing the gases better? Or for allowing better air flow to the fire?

I'm curious about this too, @Geneticsbunny . The house was built in early 1900, so perhaps they have indeed already intended the fireplaces as gas heating? Funny because there are original cast iron radiators too, so would they have both? The gas pipes are sticking out of the ceiling lamp rosettes too, because the light was also gas. This makes hanging lamps a bit challenging!

I checked today if the white walls inside are hollow and I can't conclude :) They seem solid, yet sometimes there is this sound, so no idea.

Our house has gas fires and light installed in 1905 so it is possible. But ours are normal cast iron inserts with a sort of gas thing attached to the underneath of the grate. Yours looks like they would have had to have a separate stand alone grate as there is nothing to attach a grate to.

Just rechecked the pic and maybe it is just a fancy back and not separate panels?

The cast iron panels in the photo you posted, I have only seen those used as panels in a cast iron fireplace insert in place of where the tiles usually go. Never seen them placed in the fire back like you have.

I was intrigued and googled a bit, @Geneticsbunny . If you read French, this explains what it is: https://www.marcmaison.fr/architectural-antiques-resources/plaquedee_cheminee
Basically it was meant to reflect the heat and prevent its loss through the stone/brick. The photos I found show that a small grate was used, not a whole insert. I wonder why since it must have made making a fire quite messy? They would use coal, because the house, like all others, has a coal cellar.

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Can you buy some of those plates from reclaimation places to put in your other fires then?

I'd love to buy them! The ones I see online, though, are very expensive, and the delivery would be a lot too due to weight. There is one reclamation site in my city, though, that's worth checking. I don't know if they sell this stuff, but you never know.

I tiled mine, it was really easy to do and it looks great and it's easy to keep clean. Open fires weren't an option and getting a Victorian insert was way out of my budget so this was a good solution.

Oh, could you share a photo @CeruleanBelt ? Are you using your fireplace? Mine will not be used, so whatever I'm planning is just decorative. Agree about the price of the inserts...