Those tiles definitely look modern, easy way to check is to measure them, if they are roughly 30 x 30cm square that will confirm it. If the surround is original to the house then it would of had a matching solid hearth which would have been fronted by a brass fender of some description. I expect the base would have been removed when the clay hearth and the back fill was removed which may have been worn out, either the base was cracked or damaged, hence its removal. If original you should have a similar one elsewhere in the house, usually the second reception or dining room. When these house where built there was a lot of choice as to the interior finish, so each house buyer would choose from a catalogue the builder would have, the more generic building and interior style is a modern concept, Victorian builders tended to be local family operation spending years if not entire lifetimes building in the street and whilst the fronts can be similar the rear tenements can vary to allocate an extra bedroom, bath rooms coming later upstairs. Hope this helps

Dear Jennifer,

i agree with the other commentators the fireplaces look original. They might be marble but are more likely to be marbleised slate. But the tiles look very new. I am sure originally the fireplace would have had a caste iron insert. I have a large marbleised slate fireplace in my lounge, and another in the cellar which had been removed from the dining room by previous owners. Although large my fireplaces would have had caste iron inserts, both removed before I bought the house. The only thing that appears strange in your photographs is the location of the fireplaces, especially the top one which appears to be located in a corner. Has this room been divided, the wall to the right of your picture may be new, butted up against the chimney stack. The skirtings also appear new, which would confirm this.

You don't say whether or not you are concerned how dominant these features are. I was concerned for some time as to how to integrate my fireplace into my white and Ivory colour scheme, however a brushed steel insert, firegarde has helped. I'll send photographs if that would help.

I had some fireplaces like that once, they had been blocked up, tiles broken and all painted white. I tried paint stripper and they turned out to be slate which had been painted to look like marble with a few inset details picked out in gold. The top layer of newer paint was very easy to remove and, apart from one tiny area where I had left the paint stripper on too long, they came up beautifully and looked just like marble. I repaired them with fire cement, tracked down some original Victorian tiles for the sides and hearth, found a replacement basket, hearth, fender etc and got them working. In smaller houses the original fireplaces often look a bit offset because there are two flues running up the same chimney breast, one from the fireplace downstairs and one from upstairs. I think it was probably because it meant they could build just one chimney breast running the whole height which was structurally simpler.

The fireplace does not look like an 1880's Victorian piece and looks more modern to me (1920-50's). The plug sockets on the right of the photo do not look like UK 3 pin sockets: more like US ones, so that date may change for local tastes. The first picture is also odd as why build a fireplace at a corner of the room? They tend to be centre on a wall to allow heat to spread around the room and for people to sit near it and you cannot do that with the first fireplace, which suggests that the wall is not original and major renovation has taken place at some point and that is when the fireplaces may have been changed.

I certainly agree with others in that replacing the hearth with a marble one in similar colours would help make them less fake looking.

this is a north american home, by the looks of it. the original, large rooms have been divided, which makes the position of the fireplaces strange. i also suspect these are bedrooms, not living rooms. so, in my opinion, though these might be original fireplaces, in slate, they are very unlikely to be original to these rooms. they are not bedroom fireplaces. originally, bedroom fireplaces would have been smaller, cast iron structures with a large piece of slate set into the wooden floor underneath and in front of the fire. a cast iron or wooden low rail would have surrounded this slate.

Looks like it's been put in after. Everything looks too new to me, but looks the old style.

I think it has been put in after,but to look original

Sandra Boyce

Any thoughts on this one???