Stone Fireplaces In Homes
Posted By LaurenI was visiting my parents’ home in Maryland earlier this week. Guests tend to be impressed when they enter the front door into a great room with a very high ceiling that includes both the living room and the dining area (and to an exent, the kitchen). But the most majestic thing about the great room is the large stone fireplace made of Setters Quartzite, a sparkling tan stone with black tourmaline crystals. It’s a popular decorative building stone in Maryland.
Perhaps with the exception of a ski lodge, I have not seen any stone fireplaces in Oregon. In fact, I have not seen much built out of stone besides a few churches and a few fountains, but mostly just garden fences. According to the Oregon History Project, stone was an unusual building material at the beginning of the 20th century because building stone was difficult to transport and there were few sources. I can’t easily find any sources remarking about later building trends. Why did stone never become popular even as transportation improved?
Doing a very basic internet search, I’m finding very few quarries that supply building stone to much of Oregon, including the Portland area. That’s probably why.
If you can afford to use stone in your building, as much on the inside as on the outside, I would do it. It makes a room just a little more breathtaking, especially since it’s an unusual flourish in Oregon. Even just marble countertops are worthwhie.
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