Inglenook

{{Short description|Architectural feature}}

{{Other uses}}

File:DETAIL SHOWING INGLENOOK OF BLUE BEDROOM - Stan Hywet Hall, 714 North Portage Path, Akron, Summit County, OH HABS OHIO,77-AKRO,5-95.tif, Summit County, Ohio]]

An inglenook or chimney corner is a recess that adjoins a fireplace. The word comes from "ingle", an old Scots word for a domestic fire (derived from the Gaelic aingeal), and "nook".{{cite web|url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/ingle|title=Ingle|publisher=Dictionaries of the Scots Language|access-date=20 March 2021}}{{cite OED|Ingle-nook}}

The inglenook originated as a partially enclosed hearth area, appended to a larger room. The hearth was used for cooking, and its enclosing alcove became a natural place for people seeking warmth to gather. With changes in building design, kitchens became separate rooms, while inglenooks were retained in the living space as intimate warming places, subsidiary spaces within larger rooms.{{cite web|last=Holt|first=Stephen|title=The Inglenook: A History of Hearth & Home|date=13 March 2002 |url=http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,217014,00.html|publisher=This Old House|access-date=17 January 2012}}

Inglenooks were prominent features of shingle style architecture and characteristic of Arts and Crafts architecture but began to disappear with the advent of central heating.{{cite web|title=What Was the Arts and Crafts Movement?|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/showcasing/heritage-highlights/arts-and-crafts-movement/|publisher=Historic England|access-date=17 October 2015}} Prominent American architects who employed the feature included Greene and Greene, Henry Hobson Richardson, and Frank Lloyd Wright. British architect Richard Norman Shaw significantly influenced Richardson.{{cite journal|last=Flaherty|first=Carolyn|author2=Conley, Katharine|title=Cosy Corners|journal=Old-House Journal|date=November 1980|pages=178–179}}