The cast iron fireplace is still an elegant solution to shelter that roaring fire on those cold winter nights. It is for this reason that these types of fireplaces are still in use despite many years after their heyday in Victorian times. That and the fact that many homes across the country still have such fireplaces installed inside them, even if many are boarded up or covered with layer after layer of paint.
However, if you are interested in buying a cast iron fireplace, then you really need to know where the best places to look are. There are essentially two types of cast iron fireplaces available. There are modern fireplace reproductions or original fireplaces that have been removed from someone’s home, cleaned and offered for resale.
The first type, the modern reproduction fireplace, will be found in specialty fireplace retail stores. They will be able to provide a full service from site inspection to installation if you choose this route. The second type is more likely to be found in salvage yards, which tend to be littered with items from period properties and the chimney may be in poor condition from being unprepared. You may very well get a bargain buying a cast iron fireplace from those places, but of course you will almost certainly have to do some restoration work yourself and arrange transport and installation.
The variety of designs you can choose from is wide. There were a large number of fireplaces installed in Victorian houses, as a real fire was often the only form of heating available. Choosing a reproduction fireplace design is easier, as there will likely be a catalog available for you to peruse at your leisure. Finding a genuine antique that has a particular design, on the other hand, would be a much more difficult task. In fact, finding a particular layout can be nearly impossible, so you should probably spend time searching for a suitable layout rather than a specific one. However, the search for a genuine cast iron fireplace is likely to be a lot more fun, as many people can spend hours wandering through salvage yards.
