open fireplace - an open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built; "the fireplace was so large you could walk inside it"; "he laid a fire in the hearth and lit it"; "the hearth was black with the charcoal of many fires"chimney - a vertical flue that provides a path through which smoke from a fire is carried away through the wall or roof of a building fire - a fireplace in which a fire is burning; "they sat by the fire and talked" fireside, hearth - home symbolized as a part of the fireplace; "driven from hearth and home"; "fighting in defense of their firesides" niche, recess - an enclosure that is set back or indented water back - water heater consisting of a tank or pipes set at the back of a fireplace or in the firebox of a stove |