Finding the perfect fireplace - or making it

What do they do Stephen Aiken, period fireplacesYou don't have to be a genius to figure out why the supply of genuine period fireplaces has been drying up over the past 10 years. The listing of much of Dublin's Victorian housing stock has had an effect, in that it's no longer possible to simply rip out an original fireplace.

But also it's now rare for a big house that has been divided into units to stay that way once it's sold- one of the first things new owners usually have to do is source replacement fireplaces.

That's where someone like Stephen Aiken comes in. Working out of his shop in Clanbrassil Street, Dublin 8, he has built up an impressive client list, sourcing fireplaces ranging from imposing Georgian marble pieces to the plainest Victorian stone pieces.

They come from a variety of sources, mostly in Britain, where he spends a lot of time and Scotland, where he says the fireplaces are on a bigger scale and tend to be very suitable for Irish period houses. "You can't touch a fireplace that's from a listed building," he says, adding that like any dealer in antiques, it's a question of keeping your ear to the ground. Stories of finding a Bossi in a barn or an Adams fireplace going for a song in a junk yard are usually just yarns.

Still, just looking around his chaotic looking shop prompts endless stories of how he finds the pieces - a stunning 18th century fireplace that incongrously came out of a modern bungalow in the North of Ireland; an Adams iron grate from the 1760s picked up for a few quid in a junk shop and an astonishing looking white marble fireplace complete with sculpted figures that he bought in Italy that had been shipped over there from a big house in England during the Second World War. "Provenance is really important and buyers are very keen to know just where the fireplace is from and how it came to be for sale," he says "which make sense given how much of an investment these pieces can be."

A modest Victorian fireplace can cost between €3,000-€4,000 and clients will often want a matching pair for both dining and livingroom. He can, he says, copy fireplaces if requested. At the back of the shop waiting to be moved is the first of 14 beautifully carved wooden fireplaces which he copied from an original for a client refurbishing a Monkstown house.

But there are, copies, he says, and copies. Mentioning the flood of Chinese marble fireplaces that have hit the Irish market is a bit like asking the waiter in Patrick Guilbaud's for a double cheeseburger and fries.

"The Chinese stuff is just muck," says Aiken, with typical forthrightness. "Anyone who knows about fireplaces can spot one." They are cheap, he concedes, but says there will always be people who want originals.

Period Surrounds, 21 Lower Clanbrassil Street, Dublin 8. Telephone Stephen Aiken, 086 257 3860

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