An assortment of cast iron fireplace surrounds is available at 1stDibs. Each of these unique cast iron fireplace surrounds was constructed with extraordinary care, often using
metal,
iron and
carrara marble. Cast iron fireplace surrounds have long been popular, with older editions for sale from the 18th Century and newer versions made as recently as the 20th Century. Cast iron fireplace surrounds are generally popular furniture pieces, but
Victorian,
Art Nouveau and
Neoclassical styles are often sought at 1stDibs. Large cast iron fireplace surrounds can prove too imposing for some spaces, so the smaller cast iron fireplace surrounds available at 1stDibs — each spanning 30.5 inches in width — may make for a better choice. There have been many well-made cast iron fireplace surrounds over the years, but those made by
Coalbrookdale Foundry are often thought to be among the most beautiful.
Cast iron fireplace surrounds can differ in price owing to various characteristics — the average selling price at 1stDibs is $3,080, while the lowest priced sells for $502 and the highest can go for as much as $75,000.
While we likely wouldn’t mourn the invention of home heating and air-conditioning, these innovations did tragically reduce the widespread need for fireplaces and mantels in our living rooms.
Once an essential fixture in all homes, the fireplace, which, along with the chimney, is as old as the Middle Ages, was actually rendered redundant with the advent of the cast-iron heating stove during the 18th century. Victorian-era heating stoves were popular in the common areas of a living space for their capacity to heat as well as for their lack of smoke compared to fireplaces. However, improvements in craftsmanship as well as the Industrial Revolution meant that fireplaces were evolving in form and functionality.
Even as HVAC systems would eventually see to it that fireplaces weren’t a necessity, no mechanically engineered thermal heating and ventilation technology can replicate the feeling of warmth and camaraderie that a flickering fire guarantees. We just love a good fireplace.
“With antique fireplaces, you get heart, soul, character and architecture,” says Tony Ingrao, a Manhattan-based interior designer who purchased an important 16th-century French limestone fireplace for a client’s Greenwich Village townhouse.
Vintage fireplaces and mantels have earned their coveted position as desirable focal points in any room over the course of a staggering evolution in design that has yielded everything from intricately carved works of limestone to sleek works of wood paneling and rolled steel.
As log after log turns into ash, these iconic designs prove their timelessness and value, monetarily and as prized decorative monuments. Whether you seek to simply warm a space or completely transform it, an eye-catching new mantel for your blazing hearth — be it an elegant neoclassical design, a marvelous work of marble in the Louis XV style or an unconventional contemporary variation — is the perfect solution.
Find a collection of antique and vintage fireplaces and mantels on 1stDibs today.