Date the Slate
Anyone want to guess the date of this slate fireplace? Looks Eastlake/Neo-Grec to me. Also, I’m putting it up here as a good example of the original faux-marble painting on these fireplaces. I’ve seen lots of these fireplaces covered over with white latex, but this is the first I’ve seen with the original finish.
Anyone want to guess the date of this slate fireplace? Looks Eastlake/Neo-Grec to me. Also, I’m putting it up here as a good example of the original faux-marble painting on these fireplaces. I’ve seen lots of these fireplaces covered over with white latex, but this is the first I’ve seen with the original finish.
It doesn’t really look metallic, just yellow color, in the incised bits. The bigger bits you see are painted to look like marble with yellow and green and orange paint, but they really look more like tortoise, I think.
It does look Japonaise. Sam, you are a treasure trove. Where do you get this information?
It was probably not real gold gilding originally. That was reserved for the Robber Barons. It was Dutch Metal, which looks just like gold. It could have been painted over a dozen times with who-knows-what. But originally the incised ornament would have been given a gold-like treatment. It was in the Aesthetic Movement/Japonaise style. Dutch metal was favored by the puritan-wasp haute bourgeoise because it was not as “flashy-bling” as real gold leaf.
Anybody need tiles to go with their Eastlake maantles? send pics of the hearth tile to http://www.lesperancetileworks.com
IMBY, thanks for reminding me since I forgot to mention it. The ones on our block are all gas as well.
The ceiling medallions are square, not round. They are covered in white paint. One has a basketweave pattern. Is that Eastlake? How do I tell?
The place originally had gas lighting, then electric. It does not look like the two were concurrent, although I realize they often were in houses of this era. The electric is amazingly primitive. Just bulbs hanging on wires for the most part.
Doorknobs are nothing fancy, just plain.
We have same. House built 1897.
Are your ceiling medallions Victorian Eastlake as well? Door knobs?
On ours the ‘gold’ was set into the incised lines after the trompe l’oeil “marble” was enamel painted.
Behind our summer grates are metal ducts going down to the floor below. I think the basement garden floor had a gas/electric heater that used these vents to deliver the naturally drafting hot air to the other 2 floors above. Just a guess. Maybe to supplement the boiler?
It must have been a confusing time for home owners because our place had coal, oil, and gas heat over the years. Gas lighting/electric lighting at the same time.
Oh, wait. It’s not gilded. Folks, that orange-y stuff is painted to look like marble, although I think it looks more like tortoise shell.
Oh, Miss Chiff, now I know you are DIBS! Thank you, Sam. You sound very informed. What convinces you it’s 1890s?
Nice, gilded black slate mantle from the 1890’s. The cast-iron grate box looks intact too. This looks like it was originally a gas burning fireplace given the fanciness of the decoration and the design of the grillage.
Imagine the convenience of not having to clean up the coal ash.