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Scott Design, Inc. Hi clandos,
What makes this fireplace unsafe...weak, cracked mortar joints, poor draft? Does it house the vent for your heating system? If it does, you will have to maintain a chimney. If you have a direct vent heating system then having a chimney is not an issue. Sometimes you can put a stainless steel vent pipe up the flue to take care of certain problems. The fireplace has a unique face. Do you like the style? If you don't like the brick you can tile over it with some great looking small format ceramic, stone or glass tiles for an updated look to a period style. The mantle could be a thick piece of wood or stone.

What activites will take place in this room...conversation living room, family room/media room? A house of this era typically has minimal storage. Would additional built-ins be helpful? How big is this room? Hall tall is the ceiling? Can you provide pics of all 4 walls? With a little more feedback, we can start to talk detail.

clandos I just bought the house and have begun to remodel. The chimney is barely held together. It needs to come down. I will measure the room and get the wall height.

clandos I will also get pics of the 4 walls

Dytecture I agree with not walling off the fireplace in case future buyers want to bring it back to life. In the meantime, one option would be to place candles inside so it creates a warm glow when lit.

angiesays Have you talked to a good mason on this issue? Tuckpointing or stucco and relining or sealing off the chimney would be less expensive than removing it. The side of your house will have to have some extensive structural and stucco rework. The chimney is an important architectural feature of your house and it looks great. If you are worried about fire safety, there are some great looking electric inserts available now that look like the real thing and you could seal up the flue.

Scott Design, Inc. Thanks for the feedback. I agree that the fireplace is a great focal point. There are so many ways you can go with this. Check out direct vent fireplaces vs. masonry vs. woodburning inserts needing a chimney (which could be framed, then stuccoed with brick or wood accents that would be less than full masonry and brick construction). If you decide on a fireplace, then we can work on the entire wall and just how to position the depth of the fireplace and its height.

clandos Thanks everyone. I have had several contractors and chimney people out and the consensus is it needs to be taken down. I am leaning towards paying the money to have a new chimney and fireplace unless there was something that could be done that would look very nice and less expensive. I am attaching photos of all 4 walls. The ceilings are 9 feet and the room is 14 ft.x 19 ft.
Again, thank you for your comments

clandos Here are the photos

clandos An additional 2 photos