Chimney Flue Extravaganza

Yesterday I was driving through the town of Westminster Maryland and saw something I haven't seen before. I saw an old house 3 story's tall and at least 100 years old. This house had 4 chimneys with 3 flues on each chimney. 2 chimneys on one side of the house and 2 on the other side of the house. Why would there be 12 flues? Would there of been a fire place in each bedroom thus 3 floors 2 bedrooms per floor would equal 6 flues per side of house and the same on the other side. I find this very fascinating. I am also very jealous as I would love this.

Here is an actual picture of the house ...
well its not the actual picture but a very bad drawing of what I saw. Hope the bad drawing helps you picture it.

I bet there was only one working chimney, and the rest may have been decoration? Just for looks?

My uncle lived in a old two story home that had 3 fireplaces and a chimney in the kitchen for a cookstove and I know of one large home in an old neighborhood that has 7 separate chimneys. Multiple chimneys in old comes are common but a lot of old homes have one large central flue where all stoves/fireplaces would have connected to.

Hey!!...I know that house!!.......Here's a pic of the owner!

Prior to central heating having a stove or fireplace in each major room was not unusual in houses of the well to do. Given the age of the building the chimneys probably aren't lined unless they have been updated and many, if not all, may no longer be usable without major work.

Devil505 wrote:Hey!!...I know that house!!.......Here's a pic of the owner!

your an ass ... haha

Bob wrote:Prior to central heating having a stove or fireplace in each major room was not unusual in houses of the well to do. Given the age of the building the chimneys probably aren't lined unless they have been updated and many, if not all, may no longer be usable without major work.

I don't know about the well-to-do part but the house I grew up in was an old >200 yr old house that had three unlined brick chimneys. Four chimneys if you count the stone summer kitchen. It wasn't a large house, three rooms down, each around 11x15. There was a flue in two of the rooms for a stove. Each of the two was configured with a painted mantel and a fireplace wide structure with storage cabinets on each side. The kitchen has the original colonial kitchen fireplace. Al the hooks, cranes and doors were in there too. My grandmother had a big coal fired kitchen stove hooked up to it. Unfortunately, in pursuit of modernizing it, my dad used the kitchen fireplace as a chase for wiring and plumbing It's still there with the original doors in place.

I have a 1790 federal colonial. I have six fire places, three chimneys. It is cool, but can be a real heat sump if you let it.
I have my stove running in the "summer kitchen" in the basement.