Oh, it worked once upon a time, when the building was first built in 1938 (I found the original floorplans on the internet and my apartment's fireplace was indicated as "WBF"--Wood Burning Fireplace), but who knows when it was closed up over the years. See, in many pre-War buildings like mine, apartments get combined, especially studio apartments, they're easy to add on to other larger apartments to make them even bigger. And many times the fireplace is the casualty. I know other fireplaces still work in this building, I've been in those apartments, but alas, not mine. I have to be content with my lovely marble mantel.
But I can--and have--appointed it with logs and andirons to give the look of a real working hearth. It's still enchanting to look at and a nice focal point for that part of the room.
A couple of years ago my friend Jan gave me a nice set of metal andirons for my last apartment as a housewarming gift. They're very heavy with handsome ballheads, rusted just the right amount. I chose real birch logs to sit on top of them. Birch is the prettiest type of log for this purpose I think. I found them online...seems like you can find anything on the web if you look hard enough!
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