Inglenook

For other uses, see Inglenook (disambiguation).

Inglenook in the Blue Bedroom of Stan Hywet Hall, Summit County, Ohio

An inglenook or chimney corner is a recess that adjoins a fireplace. The term "inglenook" comes from "ingle", an old Scots word (derived from the Gaelic aingeal) for a domestic fire, and "nook".^[1][2]

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.^[3]

Inglenooks were prominent features of shingle-style architecture and characteristic of Arts and Crafts architecture, but began to disappear with the advent of central heating.^[3][4] Prominent American architects who employed the feature included Greene and Greene, Henry Hobson Richardson, and Frank Lloyd Wright. British architect Richard Norman Shaw significantly influenced Richardson.^[5]

See also

• Keeping room

References

1. "Ingle". Dictionaries of the Scots Language. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
2. "Ingle-nook". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
3. Holt, Stephen (13 March 2002). "The Inglenook: A History of Hearth & Home". This Old House. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
4. "What Was the Arts and Crafts Movement?". Historic England. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
5. Flaherty, Carolyn; Conley, Katharine (November 1980). "Cosy Corners". Old-House Journal: 178–179.