Edwardian Heating and Lighting

Edwardian fireplaces reflected the styles of the houses; terraced houses had register grates with Art Nouveau designs on the cast iron and tiles. Fire surrounds were in marble in the larger rooms of grander houses, slate in others, and cast iron and wood in the rest.

In Tudor, Georgian and Jacobean revival homes, fireplaces in the hall, drawing and dining rooms were sometimes huge and open, perhaps in the form of an ingle-nook. The surround was in stone or heavily ornamented wood. The over-mantel was sometimes a continuation of this, with a mirror incorporated.

By the end of the Edwardian era, gas appliances were beginning to appear in kitchens, but the range was still the usual method for cooking and heating water.

Electric light began to appear in cities before 1910, but a house might have had just one light in the drawing room and another in the dining room. The fitting used was typically a standard lamp.