An inglenook or chimney corner is a recess that adjoins a

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

. The word comes from "ingle", an old Scots word for a domestic fire (derived from the Gaelic ''aingeal''), and "nook". The inglenook originated as a partially enclosed hearth area, appended to a larger room. The hearth was used for cooking, and its enclosing alcove became a natural place for people seeking warmth to gather. With changes in building design, kitchens became separate rooms, while inglenooks were retained in the living space as intimate warming places, subsidiary spaces within larger rooms. Inglenooks were prominent features of shingle style architecture and characteristic of

Arts and Crafts architecture The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

but began to disappear with the advent of

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. A central heating system has a Furnace (central heating), furnace that converts fuel or electricity to heat through processes. The he ...

. Prominent American architects who employed the feature included

Greene and Greene Greene and Greene was an architecture, architectural firm established by brothers Charles Sumner Greene (1868–1957) and Henry Mather Greene (January 23, 1870 – October 2, 1954), influential early 20th century American architects. Active prim ...

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

, and

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

. British architect Richard Norman Shaw significantly influenced Richardson.

References

{{authority control Architectural elements Rooms

See also

References