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1928 Tudor Revival Fireplace Restoration — Beverly Drive, Highland Park

A working hearth, returned to the standard the architect drew

The house sits on the high side of Beverly Drive, north of Mockingbird, on one of the original 1920s Cook-and-Kessler blocks. The architect of record is one of the names that recurs through the inventory of pre-war Park Cities estates. The principal-room fireplace had not been used in roughly a decade by the time we were called in, but the surround was still the visual anchor of the room — a hand-carved limestone mantel with quoined returns, a deep firebox opening, and a carved-stone overmantel that ran nearly to the ceiling.

The owners had bought the house from the estate of the second family to live in it. The third family wanted the fireplace back in working condition, period-correct, and ready for the next ninety years.

This is the case study.

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The brief

The owners’ brief was short and unusually clear. They wanted three things, in this order. First, the limestone surround restored to its original 1928 appearance — meaning every coat of paint, varnish, and grime that had accumulated across nine decades stripped and removed without damaging the carved detail. Second, the fireplace returned to working condition. Third, the work to be done in a way that the next sale of the house — whenever it came — would credit rather than discount.

There was no design brief, no mood board, and no aspirational reference. The reference was the house itself.

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Inspection findings

We open every Park Cities project with a Level 2 inspection">Level 2 inspection. On Beverly Drive, the inspection produced four findings that shaped the scope.

The carved limestone surround had been overpainted three times. The earliest coat appeared to date from a 1960s remodel; the most recent looked late-1990s. Beneath the paint the original Cordova Cream limestone was intact, with only minor lippage at one return.

The firebox was structurally sound at the back wall but had two cracked refractory panels at the floor and one displaced panel at the rear corner. The original cast-iron damper was frozen but salvageable.

The clay flue had a hairline crack at the smoke shelf, visible on video scope. The crack was not draft-critical, but it would not pass a real-estate Level 2 in its current condition and was almost certainly the reason the previous owners had stopped using the fireplace.

The chimney exterior — corbeled brick with a clay-tile crown — was in fair condition. Crown sealant had failed and would need to be redone, but the masonry above the roofline was within tolerance.

We presented the findings as a four-line scope and a written timeline. The owners approved within forty-eight hours.

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The work

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Materials

• Cordova Cream limestone (matched to original surround)
• 304-stainless flexible flue liner, insulated
• Refractory mortar for smoke chamber parge
• Direct-vent sealed gas firebox (architectural, mantel-rated)
• Hand-built ceramic log set, period-correct sizing
• Stainless chimney cap with period-matched finish

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Timeline

The project ran six weeks from contract signature to final commissioning. The breakdown was as follows. Week one was inspection close-out, scope confirmation, and material ordering. Weeks two and three were limestone stripping and firebox rebuild. Week four was flue reline and gas conversion. Week five was crown and cap, plus exterior masonry repointing on the upper courses. Week six was commissioning, owner walk-through, and final photography.

The owners were not displaced during the work. The principal-room access door was tarped at the threshold and the work area sealed with negative-pressure dust containment. Household disruption was limited to the principal room itself.

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Outcome

The fireplace was lit on a Tuesday evening in early December, six weeks and one day after the contract signing. The owners reported that the room held a different quality of light with the fire going than it had in the decade they had owned the house. The video scope of the relined flue, run thirty days after first use, showed clean walls and no anomaly. The Level 2 documentation produced at project close has since been provided to the owners’ insurer and added to the household records.

The Park Cities have a particular way of remembering work like this. The next time the house sells — whenever that is — the buyer will likely be told that the fireplace was restored, properly, by a contractor who understood what it was. That sentence is what the work is for.

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Project credits

The interior designer of record on the larger house renovation has elected to remain uncredited on this case study at the owners’ request. We are grateful for the collaboration.

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Discuss a comparable project

If you own a pre-war Park Cities home with a fireplace that has stopped being used, the most useful first step is a Level 2 inspection. Reach the design team at 214-444-8094 or via the contact form. For other case studies in the same architectural register, see the Tudor outdoor fireplace at White Rock Lake, the Devonshire pre-war firebox rebuild, or the Highland Park Armstrong Parkway Georgian restoration.

Return to the main portfolio index.

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