There is not a particularly wide choice of materials available for the finish of the hearth and fireplace. Stone, brick, cement and tile exhaust the possibilities, although with combinations of these we have all the variety that we could wish.

Stone is suitable only in certain environments—the informal shack or log cabin chiefly, though of course it is impossible to make any hard and fast rule in the matter.

Brick is almost never out of place. Perhaps it is the association with the fireplaces that have been built by our fathers and grandfathers, or perhaps it is the inherent worth and fitness of the material itself that puts it forward as a first choice. Undoubtedly the practical consideration that it is easier and more economical to build has something to do with the matter.

Concrete is a newcomer in the field of fireplace facing and as yet it cannot be said to have shown any particular reason why it should displace the other materials. With the ordinary heat developed in an open fire of wood there is no likelihood of cracking the concrete facing if the material has been properly mixed and applied, although there seems to be a vague impression that this might be a real danger. The color of concrete gives it no particular recommendation, for it is one that remains unchanged by fire, though not unstained by smoke. Brick, on the other hand, and tile, have the very closest possible association with fire in the making, which gives them a peculiar fitness for this purpose.

Tile, the last of the four materials, gives more latitude in design than any of the others, sometimes too much latitude we feel. If understandingly used, nothing could be more appropriate and attractive, but tile has been used so carelessly that somehow we have a feeling that the tiled fireplace is for show rather than for use. In any case, there is no question whatever regarding the unfitness of the glazed tiles which have made horrors of thousands of pseudo fireplace openings. It is only the mat-glazed or unglazed tiles that have any right to be used in such a place.

Since this little volume has for its subject the fireplace rather than the mantel, little need be said regarding the latter outward form, though there is no doubt that a whole book on the subject might profitably be written. To touch upon the subject as lightly as space will permit, we can probably do no better than to suggest the obvious type of mantel for one or two of the more common architectural styles, and recommend that in other styles the architect be allowed sufficient latitude in design and expense to distinguish this important feature of hall, living-room, dining-room or library with the characteristics of the style he has worked out for the house itself.

The modern home along Colonial lines is perhaps the commonest problem, and incidentally the easiest, for the old models of delicately detailed white-painted wood mantels are so well known and so universally admired that modern reproductions along good lines and reasonable cost are easily obtained.For the English plaster or half-timber house the architect will doubtless design a special mantel, in scale and in harmony with the dark paneling and other architectural woodwork, probably with a paneled over-mantel if the cost is not too rigorously held down.

In a house which breaks away from the historic architectural styles, as so many of the stucco buildings of the day do, the mantel treatment offers particularly interesting possibilities. Frequently the mantel is done away with entirely and the chimney breast treated independently as a whole.

With the very informal type of summer home where a rough stone for facing and chimney is employed, the mantel treatment can hardly be kept too simple and unobtrusive in its rugged strength. A heavy log, planed to a smooth top surface and resting on two projecting stone brackets, is frequently used with good effect. The chimney breast may be stepped back at the shelf height to form a narrow stone ledge, or the breast left without any shelf. Many simple variations with the informal brick chimney breast will occur to everyone. In general, with these summer shacks or bungalows, the fireplace is the chief architectural feature of the living-room and for that reason will stand a moderate amount of embellishment, but this latter should take the form of a slightly better finish of the materials used throughout the room rather than the introduction of more elaborate and costly ones.