Art Nouveau

This is a detail from the canopy over the fire in the sitting room. The house was built in 1888 but I don't think this is the original fireplace. It could be that the canopy was incorporated into fireplace when it was replaced. We moved into this house in October 1986 (30 years ago!!) and have maintained an open fire ever since. In the past few years though there's been an annual discussion about replacing the open fire with a stove for greater convenience and less dust. I think that this might just be the winter of the stove and if that's the case the whole fireplace will have to go.