ABSTRACT
Until about the 1940s, fireplaces were provided as a matter of course to practically every room in a dwelling since the burning of wood or coal had been the most common form of domestic heating until then. This was so even though other forms of heating had been developed from the latter part of the nineteenth century onwards. Gas and electric fires were available from the turn of the century and came into more widespread use after the First World War. Central heating using solid fuel with the boiler in the basement and heavy cast iron wide-bore pipes and radiators was viable for public and commercial buildings but remained expensive and inefficient for the average two-storey dwelling. This situation lasted until the 1960s when the development of the electric pump, time controls, small-bore copper tubing and steel radiators enabled cheaply available gas to be used cleanly and efficiently to provide heating and a supply of constant hot water to the average flat as well as house.
