This Online catalog selection featuring some of our captivating antique limestone fireplaces were taken from our own printed fireplace catalog from 2011 to 2016.
One of a kind antique limestone fireplace hundreds of years old reclaimed and restored by hand, shipped from Spain to a French castle in the Dordogne region close to the Limousine national forest.
A captivating antique Limestone Fireplace that features an over mantle or a ‘trumeaux’ as its called in French.
A lovely antique stone fireplace with an etched Cross motif on its midsection. This Cross is known as the Maltese Cross.
A finely carved crest of two lions flanking a Medici vase is the main characteristic of this antique 15th century fireplace.
A beige limestone antique fireplace dating back to the 17th century. This lovely stone mantle was restored to its formed glory by the capable hands of our professional artisans who had to change and beef up its top shelf and extend its legs.
This antique Italian beige limestone fireplace was supplied, restored and installed for this charming private Italian Villa. Over the years, the list of our clientele has grown into the thousands and reads like a Forbes 500 list.
Both our clients and competitors admire the rarity and uniqueness of our one of a kind Antique Fireplace Mantles that we salvage and carefully (and sometime painstakingly) restore back to their original splendor without defacing the time honored patina that those pieces have acquired during their temporal journey since their hand carving centuries ago.
We are trying to move with the times by making our entire Yard stocks becoming digitally available for online viewing.
This massive undertaking required tens of thousands of man hours worth of documentation, data entry, archiving and classifications.
We’ll be keeping everyone updated on this herculean undertaking as the months or even maybe years role by!
To learn more about those fascinating and unique architectural gems as well as their hand carved exact replicas feel free to please contact us through our website at Ancient Surfaces.
A simple fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with herringbone brick inlay into the firebox.This simple limestone carved fireplace is Tuscan in design installed with a thick stone hearth ad terracotta bricks. Running bond brick are inlay inside the firebox.A simple French fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with horizontal and vertical running bond firebox bricks.Another Italian inspired simple fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with an inserted, benched, raised stone hearth.A simple Tudor fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with herringbone bricks, lining the insides of this gas burning firebox.This Italian countryside fireplace was hand carved out of limestone & installed with an interesting crisscross herringbone pattern.A unique hand carved limestone fireplace coupled with its own custom seating bench. Ideal for outdoor settings, and family rooms. The middle Floral is an old European symbol of the Virgin Mary, is carved and mounted on a the middle keystone.Side profile of the same hand carved limestone fireplace shown just above.
We still consider ourselves apprentices who are in constantly pursuit of perfecting our craft by learning more and more about our past and how to better merge it with our present contemporary setting because once you stop learning about your roots and origins you stop caring about your future projection and stop growing as a company or as individuals.
Salvaging isn’t only a happening kinda think that started in the last few years with the rise of the global green conscience… It’s a bit early than that.
Well OK let’s go WAY back here… Back to 3500 B.C. or 5500 years ago to the first recorded human battle: “The Battle for Hamoukar” story has it that an early city army in what is known today as modern-day Iraq invaded the city of Hamoukar in modern-day Syria and took it over. Researchers tell us that clay pots, massive mills and grinding wares from one culture were used by the conquerors far after they’ve won the battle. Evidence shows that cooking utensils from the conquered city kept on being used for at least a few more generations! In essence early reclamation was inseparable from conquest and keeping the spoils of war. Visit our website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Reenactment in utilization of ancient cooking tools and techniques. Similar cooking tools were salvaged by humans and reused from one culture to the next.
Today reclamation and salvaging have undoubtedly become part of our human psyche and daily lives, developing into the skillful art of re-purposing a once neglected and discarded item into a functional and lively ‘ object d’art ‘ of intense beauty and a colorful past. Visit our main website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
A 200 years old ruined stone farmhouse in the American Midwest
Even though the basic building materials have always been the same: stone, cooked earth and lumber, the items salvaged from two rundown farmhouses in provenance for example could differ vastly in salvaged content. Age and village being the same, style, level of craftsmanship, size, attention to details, color and current condition play major roles in determining the items final public appeal and therefore cost of an old fireplace from another. For more information visit our website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Salvaged Twice! one as a fireplace the second as an entryway.
For the reclaimer the fireplaces or what is normally left of them are the “Pièce de résistance ” in an old home. On average only one in five reclaimed structures offers unique original fireplace mantles that are significant enough to be refurbished and restored back to their former glory. This entryway to a private Italian villa shown in the picture above, was once a vibrant fireplace mantle of another structure that was demolished a couple of hundred years ago. Reclamation is no different from coal mining you just never know when you might find a hidden diamond! For more information visit our website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Another Architectural gem nestled between overgrown shrubs in Europe
It’s more like a diamond in the rough really. It takes time, skills and passion in locating all the missing pieces and finding out how they all fit into this massive jigsaw puzzles called antique fireplaces. If you like to see more of our reclaimed mantels please visit our website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Ancient Reclaimed Medieval Walk-in MantelAn Antique Stone Fireplace with 3 Layers of Paint, Missing its Top Shelf. Image taken prior to reclamation.
More time then often all the original pieces of a fireplace are not all found so a substitution of a few pieces are deemed necessary to complete the transition from the mount of broken terracotta floors, stone walls and piles of foliage and dirt into a fireplace in a lucky client’s living room! For more information about our reclaimed antique fireplaces please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
A French Antique fireplace mantel getting reclaimed with the help of a hydraulic crane. Step-2-
Eventually everything in this ruined farmhouse gets saved and reused from the old wood beams, the stone walls, the ancient furniture and the limestone floors all get a second chance in other people home. For more information about our reclaimed antique fireplaces please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
A French Antique fireplace mantel getting reclaimed with the help of a hydraulic crane. Step-3-
In a way the memory of this farmhouse, its walls, floors and fireplace will live on for centuries to come giving a new meaning to the term reincarnation. Please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Installed ancient fireplace mantle in a French Provence style home
A similar fireplace from the same age and provenance as the reclaimed fireplace above shown installed in a French provincial style home. For more information please visit our site at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Covered with layers of moss, barnacles and traces of ancient paint every single stone piece is a gem by itself reveling interesting clues of what life looked like just a few hundred years back in farmhouses across the south of Europe and on the Mediterranean coast. To learn more please visit our site at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
This Antique fireplace mantle was showcased in a Malibu house half way across the world from where it was originally reclaimed and restored from. For more information about our reclaimed antique fireplaces please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Architectural Digest Magazine April 2011. An antique reclaimed fireplace mantel in Malibu, CA
This beauty feels right in home with its surroundings in sunny Malibu, California. For more information about our reclaimed antique fireplaces please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
The Antique Mantle prior to installation as featured in AD 2011 April Edition
To in involved in this reclamation process is nothing short of a spiritual experience were one painstakingly rediscovers the lost and narrow path to redemption and enlightenment trough hard labor, vision and determination.
Antique Fireplace Prior to Reclamation in an Old Italian Mansion
We do get asked a good question that we feel the need to address: Why not restore the structures and preserve this history within them for generations to come? And the simple answer to that question is that its impossible to restore every single structure ever built until the last century!
Cinque Terre May 26th 2011- A new meaning for people living on top of each other.
Both private and public owners around the world are constantly facing that same dilemma, to make the tough choice between what to restore and what not. As demand for the existing land slowly overtakes the preservation needs of earlier structures, (built-in the last few hundred years) the unfortunate choice becomes more obvious as a triage approach becomes necessary. The bright side to this story is that nothing gets wasted nowadays.
Antique Fireplace Mantle Prior to Reclamation
The image of a wrecking ball destroying great-grandpa’s cottage is a thing of the past. Thanks to the public awareness of multiple millions of professional and armature reclaimers alike, more people from around the world have developed a passion in reusing and restoring every single old fragment that gets demolished: from this old nails to that old wallpaper!
A stunning antique fireplace in an ancient farmhouse in Europe
There are interesting stories to each reclaimed mantle because they usually capture the essence of the ancient structures they once came from.
Antique fireplace mantle in a french villa in Avignon Circa 1610 A.D.
Even when the fireplace origins are unknown it could still shed a bit of light about its lineage.
Reclaimed Mantle Near the Town of Avignon
By knowing what to look for and paying attention to every minute detail within the mantles one can start understanding the hidden markers.
Reclaimed Mantle Maltese Stars
Just like in humans were the eyes could be the window to the soul, as they say, the mantle midsection could carry a ton of information on who the mantle owners were and what they held dear to their harts.
Ancient Limestone Lintel of an Antique Fireplace Mantle with a French Coat-of-Arms
From a scribbled date or a capitalized initials, to a carved cote-of-arms or an angle cut of a keystone may be found and maybe indicative to the origins of each piece.
Reclaimed Mantles in situ in an Old coastal Italian private villa
The general rule of thumb is that the more unique and individual an antique mantle was, the more pivotal the villa or mansion it must have been in.
Ancient Fireplace Reclaimed from Spain installed in a castle in California Circa 1650
Notably, as time went on, the stone fireplace mantle became a defining marker of nobility and a Status symbols in all European countries and kingdoms with no exception.
Reclaimed Mantle Villa Benata
It became so much so ‘the’ status symbol that it was were many European families chose to carve their Heraldic arms and last names on, which in itself was the most important socioeconomic marker of the 13th century and still is in some ways.
Ancient Norman era fireplace mantle with a threatening coat of arms
A captivating antique Limestone Fireplace that features an over mantle or a ‘trumeaux’ as its called in French.
A lovely antique stone fireplace with an etched Cross motif on its midsection. This Cross is known as the Maltese Cross.
A finely carved crest of two lions flanking a Medici vase is the main characteristic of this antique 15th century fireplace.
This antique Italian beige limestone fireplace was supplied, restored and installed for this charming private Italian Villa. Over the years, the list of our clientele has grown into the thousands and reads like a Forbes 500 list.
Both our clients and competitors admire the rarity and uniqueness of our one of a kind Antique Fireplace Mantles that we salvage and carefully (and sometime painstakingly) restore back to their original splendor without defacing the time honored patina that those pieces have acquired during their temporal journey since their hand carving centuries ago.
Gothic Tudor style fireplaces that contain very little to no decorative carvings are perfect candidates for any Asiatic, Feng Shui Style home.
Antique Fireplaces 
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