Fireplace facts for kids

A fireplace

A fireplace is a brick or metal structure used to hold a fire. Fireplaces are most often used for heating but they can also be used for cooking. The part of the fireplace that holds the fire is called a firebox or a firepit. There is a chimney or flue above the firebox that lets the smoke from the fire go outside.

Until the early 1900s, most homes had one or more fireplaces as a source of heat for the residents of the house. In the mid-1900s, gas, oil, and electric heaters became more common and fireplaces were used less often as a source of heat. In the late 1900s, fireplaces were less commonly built in new houses.

Images for kids

Modern open fireplace
An outdoor fireplace
A fender (colorized) is set in front of the fireplace to contain embers, soot and ash
Cooking over a fireplace
Fireplace with tubular grate heater, with a high surface area in its heat exchanger and a lift out ash tray to simplify cleanup
Enclosed wood-fueled fireplace equipped with a blower fan which takes in air through the bottom vent, blows it around the firebox to heat it, and releases it via the top vent
Traditional Himalayan Tandoor
A gas-powered fireplace
Electric fireplace
Traditional Serbian Ognjište
Marble fireplace in the green dining room of Catherine Palace. Neoclassical decor by Charles Cameron, 1779
Fireplace in the banqueting hall of Cardiff Castle. Victorian Gothic decor by William Burges, 1873
Maiolica fireplace "Volga and Mikula". Art Nouveau decor by Mikhail Vrubel, 1899
Victorian style "sitting room" with a fireplace in the Sherlock Holmes Museum, London
Fireplace in a bedroom at the Sam Bell Maxey House

Fireplace facts for kids

Images for kids

See also