We may look back at the Victorian era of Britain – where the English navy rules the waves and world, and a most serious even dour era but if there was one thing about the Victorian era that survives was its great effect on the architecture of homes.

The era of Queen Victoria might have been a practical, get to work one, most serious and not a lot of fun yet the effect of Victorian architecture and home layout lives on. Chief among these are the roles and place of fireplaces in abodes and even office buildings. After all the Victorian period and periods of time saw a wide variety of fireplaces and fireplace styles , but no matter it was always the heart of any and all homes.

No doubt it can be said and summarized that the nineteenth century was the time of the great industrial revolution, age of great change and the greatest changes and evolutions and improvements all of which was reflected in the styles of architecture of the times. This change of outlook was reflected most clearly in the designs of houses and homes. Previously the grace and elegance of Georgian and Regency houses had prevailed and been in prevalence. Thus it became more and more obvious, that like the Victorian outlook and view of life – as even the colonials in Canada should know well, these homes were built on solid and stoic mores, manners and indeed focus and way of life and the values of the people who both lived in these buildings and abodes and those who constructed them.

As the vast majority of citizens at the time did not own their houses and living quarters and instead merely rented them from large scale developers the exterior architecture was generally designed and built all the same – with the same appearances and building materials. It was on the inside – the interior of these homes – which the tenants and renters were able to adjust and even impose their own taste and needs for function style and fashion. Even then it seemed fashion was not always on the top of the list. Indeed traditions came to be broken, and amazingly even in spite of the tight mores and views on life in the Victorian periods that a new freedom came to the floor – or in this case the hearth. Indeed the fireplace and fireplaces became the major center and centers of both social and family life. No where else was this more true and a truism than in the parlor itself. The parlor became to a main stage as center stage- the life and social center of any Victorian era home where guests met and mingled, were met and entertained and social functions were held and occurred. It is amazing how in life and in mankind’s interactions with others of their clan that it always seems that basic values of trust and sharing as well as safety always seem to go back to fire , the fireplace or hearth itself. How times do not change.