1930s original fireplace ideas.

[Hazelsdaughter]

Would anyone be able to give me advice on original 1930s fireplace style? I know there's quite a mix of styles from tiled to wooden arts and crafts . I'm looking to replace a 1980s stone fireplace in the sitting room with something more sympathetic to the era.
Our house was built in 1935. It's a semi, has a pretty stained glass bay, original doors and handles and a lovely red tiled roof. It's a bit of an Arts and Crafts/Deco mix.
Pics would be really great if anyone is willing to share?
I've also thought about buying a wooden surround from the period (via FB or Ebay) and tiling the interior and would be really grateful for inspiration.
Many Thanks.

The experts are here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023449561785486

Thanks so much.

Following closely because I’m interested too as my house is very similar! From my research, houses of this period either had tiled surrounds or high-profile wooden surrounds - sometimes with mirrors set in. Honestly I’m not a lover of either and I think we’ll be going with plain painted wood and exposed brick when we do ours in the front

ETA: if you’re buying one, be careful about size. Our old house was also 1930s but our new house is a much bigger scale with higher ceilings and bigger doors, so a reclaimed fireplace isn’t a one size fits all if that makes sense?

We feel the same about the tiled ones. I'm not sure about the tall mirror surrounds. We don't dislike them but I wonder if they are a little earlier than 1935?
The pic is a style I've seen that we quite like (hopefully with brighter tiles though) and may be appropriate.
We have already bought the house and it does have high ceilings and some spacious rooms and the hall is really lovely.

https://www.c20fireplaces.co.uk/

This place does reproduction and original fireplaces from the 1930s. Lots of things to see so you can get your eye in and hopefully find something you like.

Thanks very much.
Lot's of ideas there.

There is a Haynes manual you can get called The1930s House manual which I like looking at, it's a bit like the Haynes car manuals, there is a chapter on fireplaces in there. There are lots of pictures in it of various parts of the house and how to mend things

My house was built in 1931 - this is the fireplace in my living room. There is a similar but much smaller one in another room. Both built out of local stone. A near neighbour's house (built 1929) had the same architect and has the same sort of fireplaces.
I don't think the copper cowl is original, I suspect the fire smoked as there is staining above the fireplace and on the mantlepiece.

Thanks very much, I'll look for a copy.

Thanks Castlesinspain. That's interesting. I hadn't thought about stone. I'm guessing that might be Arts and Crafts style? Can imagine its looks really lovely with a fire burning in it too.

The whole house has a rather Arts and Crafts look to it. We really need that fire to keep us warm - the radiators are original 1930s too and certainly not adequate!
Another possibility is brick - there are many pubs locally built in the 1930s with brick fireplaces, but the bricks are about half normal brick size, sometimes layers of tiles are involved. All sorts of designs - I think they are wonderful. The style is this sort of thing, but the pub ones are larger and fancier.

Our 1937 house has two original fireplaces. We had to add a closed insert to the smaller brick one because we use it regularly (required for woodburning where we live) but the grander marble one is untouched.

We recently renovated a 1930's home which had been left derelict. It had 4 fireplaces! I recall seeing old real estate paperwork from the 80's mentioning that one was a 'Minster' branded fireplace surround. I see that the company are still in operation, but I'm sure you'd find them at a reclamation yard. On bedroom fireplace has pink tiles, but the others were all heavy stone. I'll share pics when I find them.

www.minsterstone.ltd.uk/product-category/stone-fireplaces/

Thanks @CastlesinSpain I do like the brick style. It would be possible to recreate too I imagine .

@loosestrife Thanks. That is interesting. I hadn't realised a house would have relatively different styles in different rooms. We need 2 fireplaces to use in a sitting room and a dining room and I had thought we needed to find 2 that look similar. It will be so much easier to just find 2 from the era that we just like!

@JC03745 Thanks very much.
I've seen one or two of those minster fireplaces for sale and had thought they were later, from the 50s maybe so that's really useful info. Glad I posted as I had such a fixed idea of the style that would have been in the house. Can see we actually have more options than we thought.

The rooms themselves are very different. The brick fireplace is in a tiny private snug at the back of the house, off the kitchen. The marble fireplace is in a big bright room at the front of the house, with French doors opening onto a courtyard -- much more of an entertaining space. So the two fireplaces do match the different styles and functions of the rooms they're in.

I hope you'll let us know what you end up doing.

If you are in the Weymouth area and would like to see an amazing 1930s house the National Trust is opening Portland House on 13-15 September 2024 for Heritage Open Week. It's free entry. They let the place out as a holiday cottage normally so it's not usually open to the public. We went last year, it's very impressive 😁

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/holidays/dorset/portland-house

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/hardys-house-max-gate/events/220bd55a-bdec-4c4c-86ba-9095310212e1