Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1058

 1034i COTTAGE, FARxM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. Ibis part forming the bottom grate of tlia fire ; e, the ash-pit, which is large enough to con tain the ashes made , during a week ; rf is. ., : ; a piece of firestono, or fire-brick, forming the back of the fuel- chamber ; e is an ori- fice by which air enters under each spoke to the ash-pit, and, rising lip among the bars, b, supports combustion ; f is the hearth-stone ; and^, cast-iron plates, placed like luffer- boards; which form the back of the fireplace. These plates are all movable : and their use is to regulate the draught, by dividing the current up the chimney. In ordmary cases, the whole of the plates may remain as in the figure ; but where it is desired to increase the draught of the fire, by taking out only two of these lufFer-plates at the bottom, next the firestone, d, a draught will be created like that of a close furnace; and hence it is, that this fireplace will cure any smoky chimney whatever. In the ground plan, fig 1845, it will appear that the two sides of the fire- place, h h, are not in contact with the jambs, /, or the back, m ; in consequence of which, much heat will be radiated into the space n, and will pass into the room through the openings of the sides, k k. The use of the screen shown in fig. 1844 is to conceal the open- ings between the fuel-chamber and the jambs ; yet, at the same time, to admit of the free circulation of the air. These stoves are of such very recent inven- tion (1833), that little can be said respecting them from experience. From theory these stoves appeared to us superior to all other open fireplaces ; and we accordingly (in 1833), had one of them, Jiff. 1844, put up for our own use- After above a year's trial, however, we found several objections to it, and have now (1835) replaced it with one of Methley's, of the same general character as Jiff. 1843. 2063. Chimney-pieces are conspicuous fittings-up of the rooms of villas. As we have already given several both in the Gothic and in the Grecian styles, we shall _ here only observe that of late they may be obtained.' '- of different kinds of marhle, at much less expense than formerly, in consequence of the application of machinery to the sawing and polishing of that ma- terial. In the London marble-works at Millbank, Westminster, such chimney-pieces as those shown in figs. 1843 and 1844, which cost us, at the trade price, in 1824, seven and ten guineas, may now be obtained for four and six guineas, and of better workmanship- Designs of greater intri- cacy, and requiring much manual labour, such as those of the age of Louis XIV., which abound in curved lines ; and those in the Gothic style, which abound in carving, are not cheap in proportion : nevertheless, they are also now very much lower than formerly ; partly in consequence of the diminished price of manual labour, but principally on account of the importation of many of the chimneys of Louis XIV. 's time, from France, where they have been taken from the mansions of the decayed noblesse. America and other countries might import such chimney-pieces, both fiom France and Italy, at a very low rate ; or they might send designs to Genoa, Leghorn, or Bordeaux, and have them executed in the native marbles of either country, at less than what Portland stone costs in England Some fine specimens of chimney-pieces in foreign marble, at low prices, are generally on sale at the richly stocked museum of Mr, Brown, the scagliola maimfaeturer, in University Street, London. We recommend to young Architects Mr. Robison's plan of having a sort of upper chimney-piece over the lower one, for forming a fiame to the mirror usually placed over fireplaces. The most magni-