Sunday, April 28, 2013

An Interesting Lesson From An Old House

Several weeks ago, my friend Sandy and I visited the Duval House, the oldest house in Citrus County, Florida. It was built in the mid-1860s, which just goes to show you how recently Florida was settled.



We were given a tour by Frank Peters, a former coworker of ours, and a most interesting storyteller. Frank is directing the renovation of the house, which entails undoing many 20th century "improvements."

Frank directed our attention to this old fireplace, which is very shallow in depth, as you can see. The style was known to the locals as a "French fireplace." Contemporary Americans who buy vintage houses with similar fireplaces end up not using such fireplaces because they'll smoke up the whole house.

That's because they don't know a secret, which is that the original occupants built fires with the logs stacked vertically.

Blogging friend Jim of Road to Parnassus has sent this image of the Farris House, built on the St. Johns River. The Duval House will probably look a lot like this when the renovation work is finished. Thanks, Jim!
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26 comments:

  1. Dear Mark, Now that is something I didn't know. We lay our fires way in the back so the smoke goes directly up the chimney. No wonder Ladies used face guards in the form of decorated shields (don't know what they're called).

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    1. Dear Gina,

      I'm not familiar with the face guards you've mentioned, but I'm conjuring up some interesting images!

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    2. See Rosemary's comment below — now I understand what you're referencing, and what it's called!

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  2. Gee, I thought Florida was settled long before the 1860's. Saint Augustine, Florida was founded circa 1565.

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    1. Hernando de Soto explored Florida as early as 1514, so we are due for a big celebration this coming year. Nevertheless, one would have had to have been a hardy person to settle in Florida in the 1800s, and it's worth noting that St. Augustine is in northern Florida. Thank goodness for air conditioning and bug spray!

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  3. Hi Mark, I love the charm of the wooden walls in the Duval house, especially the way they dramatize the complex space by the stairway. It reminds me of those Adirondacks cabins.

    I'm willing to be contradicted, but I find that vertical-log story rather strange. I had always thought that those small Victorian fireplaces were for burning coal, and sometimes you see small stoves attached that stick out into the room. Besides, what would happen when those tall logs fell over when burning?
    --Road to Parnassus

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    1. Hi, Jim,

      The vertical-log story is strange, but I'm passing along what a local historian has told me. The Duval House was inhabited by only two families, and the second family did indeed add stoves in the 20th century. But the Duvals built fires. I'm guessing that with a house made entirely of wood, they tended their fires carefully.

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    2. By the way, Mark, do you have any exterior photos of the house? The inside is so interesting that it makes me wonder what the outside architecture looks like.

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    3. Hello again, Jim,

      I've added a photo of the outside of the house, not a thing of beauty, but I'm sure when the renovations are done it will live up to its history. In the left foreground is a large cistern, built at the same time as the house, and also being renovated.

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    4. The exterior is a classic Southern model--just wait until they have finished with it! As soon as I saw it I was reminded of a similar house, whose 19th century photo I sent you in a separate email.

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    5. Thanks for sending along that great old photo, Jim! I've added it to the posting.

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  4. Very interesting about the vertical logs. I've never heard that before.

    Would this horizontal planking been a typical finish?

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    1. Hi, Steve,

      I don't know if this was a typical house for the period. What I can tell you is that many older Florida houses (including one that I owned) incorporated cypress wood. As it ages, cypress darkens and becomes almost like stone, impervious to rot. Perhaps that's why it's found so much in the Everglades.

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  5. Dear Mark - Duval House reminds me of interiors seen in Scandinavia - my son's house in Norway is made of wood.
    Presumably the logs would have sat in a cast iron fire basket to stop them falling over.
    The screens that Gina mentions are called Pole screens over here - this is a link if you are interested in seeing some.
    http://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/miscellaneous/antique-pole-screens/

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    1. Dear Rosemary,

      Now that you mention it, I do see how you would be reminded of the old Norwegian buildings.

      Thank you for the link. I am indeed familiar with pole screens, just never knew what they were called. (I spent much of my youth in Virginia, and have visited many colonial homes there, where pole screens are quite common.) From Gina's comment, I was picturing a mask that was actually held in front of one's face. I'm glad we got that all straightened out!

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  6. The things I learn from you! I now know how to properly stack wood in a narrow "french " fireplace!

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    1. Hi, Theresa,

      I thought it was a fun bit of information — it would never occur to me to stack wood that way . . .

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  7. Dear Mark,
    I do love looking around old houses in pre renovated state.
    That is interesting about the fire place. When we were on our holiday in Normandy the house had a fireplace and smoke was apt to enter the room but had been 'fixed' by opening a space up above the door into the room. Block the gap and the smoke came out, leave the gap open and the smoke went up the chimney. I wonder what would have happened if we had blocked the gap but stacked the logs vertically.
    I am going to keep that interesting fact in mind for future reference.
    Thank you for this interesting post!

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    1. Dear Kirk,

      . . . And thank you for validating that French fireplaces can be shallow.

      The interesting and fun part of restoring such houses is that there is quite a bit of detective work in the process. Fortunately, the last occupant — now an elderly man — remembers what changes were made in the 1930s, and can give a few clues to how the house was configured before then.

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  8. The stoves that you mention are a much more effective way of heating a room, and can overcome any fire safety issues. However, they generally don't look that pretty. Building, tending and cleaning fires is quite a production, and today I think we tend to look for the easier alternatives, including "living flame" etc.

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    1. Hello, Columnist,

      My brother has one of those gas flames in his fireplace, complete with a couple of glowing embers, and it is absolutely convincing, as well as quick and easy.

      On another note, the irony of undoing the 20th century add-ons is that even some of them are starting to look like ancient history. The day I visited, 1930's floral linoleum was getting ripped up, and it struck me as being as interesting as anything else in the house.

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  9. Interesting about the way the logs were placed in the fireplace, Mark. Never knew that.

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  10. Hi, Mark -
    In one of our bedrooms, we have a fireplace with an opening that is quite shallow. We knew it functioned previously but didn't know how. And now we know....thanks to you :) Hope you'll keep us updated on this restoration.

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  11. Hi Yvette and Loi - I think the key to all this is that the fireplace probably had a fire basket of sorts, as Rosemary has mentioned.

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  12. usually if the chimney is long enough such shallow fireplaces work fine though! Interesting to put the logs vertically! We call these Rumford fireplaces when they're shallow and you just generally need a longer flue / chimney to draw air. It's all about proportions!

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    1. Indeed, it's all about proportions. Thank you for that comment, and for the proper name, Rumford.

      Of course Mr. Duval was not an architect, and we really don't know how he managed . . .

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