During the holidays the fireplace takes on an added importance in our lives. It's so much a part of Christmas legend and lore: hanging the stockings by the chimney with care, Santa's entryway of choice, chestnuts roasting by an open fire, the medieval yule log.
"The fireplace is the focal point for the whole holiday celebration," says local architect Steven Hoffman Shapiro, who feels that's one reason many of his clients insist on having a fireplace in their homes.
We no longer need fireplaces for warmth; in fact, a blazing fire can suck the heat from a centrally heated room. But they provide an important emotional warmth, especially this time of year. Sit back, relax, dream a little, while you watch the flames flicker in the hearth.
In an era when the home is the center of many people's lives once again, the fireplace has become a symbol of comfort and more peaceful times. Builders and architects say the fireplace is one of the features most requested by new-home buyers, right up there with home offices and more storage space. A new interest in period features has also helped fuel the reawakened desire for a fireplace.
There's something very romantic about firelight, so architects are putting fireplaces in bedrooms and bathrooms as well as formal living rooms and family rooms. People are even asking for fireplaces in the kitchen, a room that's the center of many families' lives.
Some contemporary fireplaces have yet another function. Free-standing ones used as room dividers are very much in vogue right now. They act as a wall in today's smaller houses without cutting off all space and light.
The styles of mantels and surrounds -- Colonial, French rococo, neoclassical, contemporary -- are as varied as the styles of houses. That's important to remember, points out designer Elaine Logan of Logan Grant Inc.
"A fireplace is part of the architecture of the house, not part of the furniture," she warns. To her regret, the previous owners of her home ripped out the mantel "and put one in to go with their Chippendale furniture." As far as she can determine, the original fireplace had a brick surround with a mantel in the turn-of-the-century style of the house. The brick was covered up and new molding applied. "It's neat and trim," she says, "and not very interesting."
