Old Items

Twentieth Century Fires buy and sell original tiled fireplaces as well as fireplace inserts.

We also buy and sell wooden and marble mantels and related items from throughout the Twentieth Century.

We have a fairly constant stock level of about sixty original complete tiled fireplaces, around thirty tiled fireplace inserts and over a hundred original wooden mantels from most eras of the twentieth century.

Original marble mantels are a rarer commodity but we would usually have several in stock, along with a few examples of ceramic and enamelled cast iron fireplaces.

Art Deco is a style that was popular in fireplace design from the 1920s and 1930s through to the 1950s. We have a selection of original Art Deco Complete Fireplaces in stock as well as original Art Deco Fireplace Inserts that fit inside reproduction or original Art Deco Fire Surrounds

If you wish to come and see a particular original fireplace or mantel that you have found on the website it is advisable to contact us in advance of your visit so that we can get the item to somewhere that you can easily view them.

Tiled fireplace inserts were first produced from around 1900 but cast iron fireplace inserts were still popular up until the start of the first world war in 1914.

These cast iron fireplaces usually had "tile sets" incorporated in them and we always have a small selection of originals in stock as well as a few Arts and Crafts fireplace inserts made from beaten copper that were popular in the early part of the century.

As well as selling fireplaces we also sell loose tiles to repair your existing fireplace if it is possible.

It is always the hearth that becomes worn the most. The tiled hearths on most all-tiled fireplaces from the 20th century were designed to be replaced without removing the entire fireplace. We can make replacement hearths (and fit them if the location is not too far from us ) if necessary.

For plain colours, which suits most Edwardian fireplaces and hearths, we can offer a limited colour-matching service. However, the majority of tiled fireplaces made in the 20th century were mottled or glazed with more than one colour. The glazing was often done by hand and has proved very difficult to copy. Although matching the exact original mottled colour is impossible, we can usually make the fireplace look near its best again.

We often combine old and new pieces for customers. We make new tiled inserts to sit within a customers original mantel, or vice versa. We are good at making the unmatched elements of fireplaces fit together.

Often customers wish to keep parts of their original fireplace and reuse them. Even if all you have is a handfull of original tiles salvaged from a hearth, these can be meaningfully incorporated in the design of a replacement.

As well as selling our original fireplaces we also lease them out our to film and television studios, theatre companies and advertisers.