At 1stDibs, there are many versions of the ideal English oak mantel for your home. Frequently made of
wood,
oak and
glass, every English oak mantel was constructed with great care. Your living room may not be complete without an English oak mantel — find older editions for sale from the 18th Century and newer versions made as recently as the 21st Century. An English oak mantel is a generally popular piece of furniture, but those created in
Victorian,
Arts and Crafts and
Georgian styles are sought with frequency. You’ll likely find more than one English oak mantel that is appealing in its simplicity, but
Thomas Jeckyll produced versions that are worth a look.
An English oak mantel can differ in price owing to various characteristics — the average selling price 1stDibs is $5,921, while the lowest priced sells for $590 and the highest can go for as much as $56,003.
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.