Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Chimneys in NYC

These chimneys on top of a co-op building on Park Avenue and 60th Street are quite unique and interesting. I believe the apartments in the building have individual wood burning fire places, which are rare and found only in very old and expensive apartments. Nowadays, new buildings have electronic heating systems that negate the use of steam pipes or fire places to keep the place warm.

I have never lived in a house with a wood burning fire place. But I find the concept very appealing because of all the beautiful imageries I saw in movies and television while growing up. I would love to spend a winter vacation in an old house so I can build a fire in the furnace and curl up next to it while drinking hot cocoa. And maybe toast some marshmallows.

Have you ever lived in a house with a fire place? Did you enjoy or was it more work than it seemed?

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fun when the fire is burning! Not so much fun when the ashes pile up! Where there is wood, there are bugs too... scary looking bugs. With that stated, when I actually buy a house one day, I'd say, "Yes, Mr. Builder, I'd like a wood-burning fireplace."

Olivier said...

Les cheminées reviennent à la mode en France. Surtout pour une question d'economie. Mais il faut bosser pour avoir un beau feu, et n'est pas bucheron qui veut ;o)

The chimneys return to the mode to France. Especially for a question of economy. But it is necessary to work to have a beautiful fire, and is not a logger who wants; O)

alice said...

Yes,I have a fire-place in my house and enjoy it! But of course, who says fire says logs...So if you have not some trees to cut in your yard (I have not), you must buy logs and pile them up. In French, there is a sentence which says: "Le bois réchauffe trois fois le bûcheron: la première fois quand on le coupe, la deuxième fois quand on le range, la troisième fois quand on le brûle". Tell me if you need the translation. But in NYC, in these beautiful apartments, I think owners have someone to do this sort of work for them...Good day, Ming!

Anonymous said...

I doesn't have a fire-place in my house because is an appartement but I love that. It's very beautiful in a place

lorenzothellama said...

When I was growing up the only heating we had in our house was ONE fireplace which we all huddled round! Now, although we have radiators and gas central heating, we have an open fire and light this fire every night during winter and on cold days in summer. It is lovely to curl up in front of the fire with a book and a hot drink. We get our wood delivered, but also I have a fair amount of wood in the garden. As for cleaning out the ash, well that goes straight on the compost heap.
Not sure how I blundered onto your blog site, but glad I did. Your photos are brilliant. I like your name too.
Please feel free to visit my site. I'm in the UK, by the way.

Kunterbunt said...

The chimneys look like artwork ;-))

Anonymous said...

It is a fine photograph.

Yes, we have a fireplace. It is nice to have a fire but expensive to use. All the heat goes up the chimney in smoke. People with asthma and emphysema, like me, cannot use them or risk some real problems.

I did write about how people used to wear long underwear over winter or until we began to stink. You can find the link at the bottom of the post today.
Brookville Daily Photo

Kate said...

The two houses we have owned had fireplaces. I love them for the mood it creates when lighted, but it is definitely not energy efficient. Currently our fireplace chimney needs to be relined which is an expensive proposition so we haven't lighted it for years. If we do, we risk a fire of an entirely different kind! Sorry to add such an unromantic bit of information!!

Z said...

I like the idea of a warm hearth. I would like to have a soapstone fireplace like they have in Finland and such. They're a type of masonry stove, designed to burn the wood at a very high temperature so that there's complete combustion (less nasty residues) and to trap the heat (less losses to the outside) and radiate it back to the room over a long time. The fireplace itself doesn't get too hot... and some of them have a bench area to sit on. It's rainy and cold here today (unlike the image in my post!) and such a fireplace would be very cosy. :-)

stilettoheights said...

I never lived in a house with a fire place either, I always thought it would be wonderful, like I would somehow magically become one of the girls from Little Women if it happened, lol.

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Another lovely photo! My parents had a wood buring fireplace in the house I grew up in and when I married we also had one. They are lovely, romantic, cozy & smelly! The house smelled of wood & soot for days! We converted ours to propane burning "fake" logs that are very realistic, just as romantic, cozy & don't smell. Plus if the power goes out in winter, we can light the pilot with a match and heat much of the downstairs.

Oh for the love of food! said...

Hello, MR 'BEST PHOTOGRAPHER BLOG' NOMINEE!! Shouldn't you be pasting your badge on your blog so your loyal fans can start voting for you?

My last house was a 1950s Character home with Pine floor boards, ceiling roses, stained glass doors, french windows, fire place, chimney , the works! Well, the only thing we didn't have was an "out-house"ie outdoor toilet! The house was a real beauty, you would have loved to photograph it, Ming.

lorenzothellama said...

Oh, I did forget to say that an open wood fire does cause an awful lot of dust on the furniture.

Annie said...

Oh yes, I've lived in a house with a wood burning fireplace. And it is romantic to sit and look at the flames. But it's not so romantic to buy the wood and have it delivered and set up, to clean out the grate, to smell the residual odors that waft down the chimney, to catch the birds that fly into the house from the chimney, etc. You're right, though, if you don't mind all that, it is very romantic and also quite soothing to sit by the fire.

eg(scotland) said...

We have a fireplace but don't use it now - we had to install electric heating for practical purposes. We'd get in from work at 7pm, light a fire and it would start to heat radiators in the bedrooms. The result was at 2am the house was too hot to sleep and when it was time to get up it was freezing. It was great at weekend though when it was cold outside and we could just snuggle up in front of it. A part of me would like to have the fire back.

EG

TCho said...

Long store, but my old house in Virginia burned down because my mom was careless in cleaning the ashes. luckily no one was hurt. But even still i would love to have a fireplace.

Unknown said...

those chimneys are interesting.

houses in Singapore do not have chimneys. haha..


hmmm, how is Santa suppose to go down that chimney!

kuanyin333 said...

I love having a home with a hearth, and I have lived in many. Love making a fire, love watching a fire burn, love tending it, love doing fun things in front of it, etc., and I don't even mind cleaning it! :-)

Anonymous said...

z is right - get the wood burning stoves that burn everything - no ashes to worry about

Anonymous said...

The degree to which a fireplace can be considered appealing & romantic depend, I guess, on whether or not it is the only source of heat. I grew up in a row house where we often didn't have enough money to buy oil, and remember lots of winter nights when my parents would scrounge around for something to burn in the fireplace.

I remember my mom trying to roll newspapers tightly, hoping they'd burn like logs (they didn't). When we ran out of wood, we'd sit around in our winter coats and watch our breath, and mom would try to convince us (as mothers do) that we were having fun "camping out" inside.

So, I guess you could say that my fireplace associations aren't particularly beautiful, but I do wish I had one.