Prop Project: The Delft Tile Fireplace

[Lydia]

I believe the Delft tile fireplace is first seen in Vicky's room in 1795, in episode 367 - or maybe 366, I haven't checked.  I know we see it in other times, but I've never made a list.  I noticed it recently in episode 632, in the room with the fishtank at Windcliff in which Chris and Amy Jennings meet for the first time in years.

I have couple of Delft tiles myself and wish I had more, so I'm quite fond of this fireplace.  I always mean to take a look at the tiles and see what pictures are on them, but then I get caught up in whatever story is going on, so I forget.  Has anybody else ever taken any particular note of them?

It seems surprising to me that a governess's room in Maine in 1795 would have a Delft tile fireplace; the Dutch were mostly in New York, weren't they?  On the other hand, since ships out of Collinsport sailed to all over the world, maybe it's not that far-fetched.

Would the Dark Shadows people have bought the fireplace whole out of some antique shop?  Or was it made for Dark Shadows?  Were those tiles made of styrofoam?  It might be fun to have a a fireplace made of fake Delft tiles with pictures of Dark Shadows scenes on them.  Sort of expensive, but fun.

I never look at anything but the tiles, so I haven't noticed the frame around the tiles.  Maybe I should, the next time that I see that fireplace - but most likely I'll once again think, "Got to see what the pictures are..." and then forget.

[michael c]

lydia...

i'm fond of the delft tile fireplace as well.however my vote for favorite reappearing fireplace must go to the one we first see in laura collins' cottage in 1966.
when that set first appears as the home of matthew morgan i believe it actually had some sort of functioning kitchen appliances.definitely a sink with running water.however once the show goes supernatural,like the dear and soon to be departed collinwood kitchen and the diner set,eating goes out of style and the cottage gets a make-over sans kitchen.

here it gets that little side cabinet to the upper right and a lower storage arch for logs.it turns up all over 1795 before making a nice home at professor stokes' pad.there it stays unless the cottage set is used(chris jennings)where it's craftilly reassembled.i forget where it turns up next.

and you know how i feel about "room twenty four".

[MagnusTrask]

I Googled, and got 12,900 image results for "delft tile fireplace"... pretty good for something I'd never heard of.  That's the something new I learned today, I guess.

[Lydia]

Oh, I never thought of googling.  So I tried just now, and learned that Delft tiles were popular for fireplaces and other things in the eighteenth century but passé in the nineteenth century.  So when Sy Tomashoff (whose name I have to google every time I write it because I can't remember how many "h"es and how many "f"s it has) was designing the set for 1795, he used the Delft tile fireplace to help create a period atmosphere.

mscbryk, would you be interested in starting a Prop Project topic for the other fireplace?  That's a nice write-up that you gave it.  And have you ever considered the possibility that if you're bad, when you die and go to hell you'll find yourself in Room 24?  You better not pout, you better not cry...

[michael c]

lydia you just sent chills down my spine!

i've always thought of "room twenty four" of something of a purgatory,a way station between the destiny of your past and the worse fate that awaits you in the future.people generally don't leave "room twenty four" for happier times.

so to end one's days there would be a grim fate indeed.

[Nelson Collins]

I am guessing Room 24 is not too far away from Room 101 (from Nineteen-Eighty-Four)?

[MagnusTrask]

lydia you just sent chills down my spine!

You did that a little but with me, just then!   Good image of Room 24!   

Nelson... maybe these are all rooms in the same building... go up a couple flights and you're in Room 222.  (Before your time, probably.)

[Willie Loomis]

reverand trask's room

angelique's room (?) 1795.

hotel sitting room when josette and natalie were fleeing collinwood

[Midnite]

A capture of the fireplace in Angie's room:

Episode #0389

I don't recall the fireplace in Rev Trask's room having Delft tiles either.

[Lydia]

Clearly I started a Prop Project topic on the wrong fireplace, and there is far more interest in the other fireplace.  I have therefore started a Prop Project topic on the other fireplace - the one that mscbryk mentioned:

Prop Project: The Fully Applianced Fireplace

If there are any other mobile fireplaces that have caught anybody's fancy, I'll be delighted to start Prop Project topics on them as well.

[Midnite]

I have couple of Delft tiles myself and wish I had more, so I'm quite fond of this fireplace.  I always mean to take a look at the tiles and see what pictures are on them, but then I get caught up in whatever story is going on, so I forget.  Has anybody else ever taken any particular note of them?

The fireplace is prominent in scenes in Charity's bedroom in the house by the sea/Worthington Hall 2.0.  It IS quite pretty.  In #782, the camera zooms in on her sleeping face and you can clearly see the individual tiles.  I recall seeing some single figures, a sailing ship, some landscapes.

If Burke had been able to purchase the house (assuming this is Vicki's dream house), we can guess which room she would choose to sleep in since the same fireplace was in her room in 1795.  Then again, maybe not for that same reason.

Were those tiles made of styrofoam?

They look like ceramic tiles to me.

It might be fun to have a a fireplace made of fake Delft tiles with pictures of Dark Shadows scenes on them.  Sort of expensive, but fun.

I've seen tiles with images of Lyndhurst for sale on ebay.  Oh, and I've seen blue & white tiles of the real Widow's Hill (at the end of Marine Ave.) as it looked at the turn of the century.  Why not Seaview Terrace?  

[Lydia]

The fireplace is prominent in scenes in Charity's bedroom in the house by the sea/Worthington Hall 2.0.

That's interesting, because I noticed this fireplace in Rachel's room in the same house in episode 773.  I wonder if Charity woke her father up in the middle of the night to tell him that she was moving into Rachel's room.

[Pansity]

The fireplace is prominent in scenes in Charity's bedroom in the house by the sea/Worthington Hall 2.0.

That's interesting, because I noticed this fireplace in Rachel's room in the same house in episode 773.  I wonder if Charity woke her father up in the middle of the night to tell him that she was moving into Rachel's room.

    I LOVE IT.  Isn't that a scene you'd love tosee.

Jeannie

[Lydia]

Yes, I would love to see that scene, but alas!, it cannot be, because I now know that the fireplace in Charity's room is in the wall to the right of the door, while the fireplace in Rachel's room is in the wall opposite to the door, so they're definitely two different rooms with two separate fireplaces.  Maybe the builder of the house found them at a Buy One Get One Free sale.

[Lydia]

Here's a picture of part of the Delft tile fireplace, from episode 783.