The Traditional Brick Fireplace

By: Johnathan Taylor



The traditional brick fireplace serves many purposes. Throughout history people have used fireplaces for heat as well as a central community location around which to meet and share stories and food. Traditionally, the fireplace is the center of household activities. It is where food was cooked and eaten and where people tended to gather to avoid the cold of the outdoors and the rest of the home.

The brick fireplace became a mainstay because the structure allowed for sitting and eating surfaces while the bricks help to absorb and radiate heat from the fireplace. In colder climates around the world, the fireplace or brick or stone hearth has served as the central feature of the household.

The centrally located brick fireplace provides warmth to aid survival through extended cold winters. Along with producing heat, it is the ambience -the flickering flames and crackling wood fires- that make brick fireplaces such a mainstay yet today.

To this day, people commonly choose to gather around a brick fireplace for family meetings, conversation and celebrations of various types. During the Great Depression in the United States, many families would gather around the brick fireplace frequently and listen to the weekly radio program entitled "fireside chats", where President Delano Roosevelt would deliver radio address about his views on various issues about the nation.

Though brick fireplaces are still very popular, they are not used as primary sources of heat any longer. For this reason, many lower priced homes do not come equipped with fireplaces, as the function of heating the home has been mostly taken over by central heating.

Also, the central social focus of the typical household has changed from the fireplace to the entertainment center. Whether television, DVDs or video games, the entertainment center has surely replaced other types of central household meeting places.

Though many fireplaces are wood burning in nature, there are also natural gas fireplaces and even electric fireplaces that do not burn anything, yet look and feel somewhat like wood burning fireplaces.

Though stone and brick fireplaces have greater room for custom installation features, they tend to cost quite a bit more to build than their pre-fabricated counterparts. Pre-fabricated fireplaces have limited sizes and styles, yet many people find this to be the optimal choice, as pre-fab fireplaces cost way les than traditional stone or brick fireplaces.

Pre-fabricated or manufactured fireplaces generally include a sheet metal fire box and triple or double walled metal pipe that runs up along the inside of a wood framed chase with a chase cover and a spark arrestor. A spark arrestor at the top keeps birds on the outside and sparks on the inside.

Whether you choose a traditional stone or brick fireplace or one of the more contemporary prefabricated or manufactured fireplaces, why not take away from the entertainment center. When you've put in your new fireplace, try to direct family activities around the fireplace than the television. You'll be glad you did.


Jon worked in construction for 10 years before starting his own local fireplace installation service 8 years ago. At his website, Jon will show you how his years of experience in the industry can help change your fireplace into the focal point of your home. To learn more about fireplace design ideas visit www.fireplacegate.com.