A linear gas fireplace in four sizes and four shapes — single-sided, see-through, corner or bay — with a vented chase that lets the finish run to the glass and the television sit directly above.
Most linear fireplaces arrive with a list of things the wall around them may not be. No wood within so many inches. A steel stud where the drywall wanted to go. A mantel pushed higher than it looks right, and the television higher still, until the room is arranged around what the fireplace forbids rather than what it offers. The photograph above shows a wall that was allowed to do what it wanted — plaster to the edge of the glass, a timber shelf directly beneath the fire — and that is the whole argument for the fireplace inside it.
The Enclave is the linear fireplace from Marquis, the design line of Kingsman, and it is crafted entirely in Canada, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. What sets it apart is the chase — the hollow wall the fireplace lives in. Marquis vents the chase itself, without fans, so that it stays cool enough for what Marquis calls zero clearance to televisions and artwork. Combustible materials may run right up to the glass door opening. The framing can be all wood. Mantel clearances shrink. The glass is one seamless pane, doing the work a steel safety screen does on other fireplaces, so nothing sits between the room and the flame. And because there is no fan, none of it depends on the power being on.
It comes in four sizes and, in Marquis’s own words, “adapts to suit any room with options for a Single Side, See-Through, Corner or a Bay Peninsula.” The Enclave 34 is the small one, with 34 inches of glass and 25,000 BTU, sized for a bedroom or a den — the bay version of it is in the photograph further down, wrapped around the corner of a dark surround. The Enclave 48 gives 54½ inches of view at 35,000 BTU, the size that fits most of the living-room walls we work in. The new 61 and 62 are what Marquis calls its Tall-Glass series, a little over five feet wide and 21 inches high, at 45,000 BTU — the fire for the double-height room, where a low ribbon of flame would be lost. And the Enclave 72, above, is the long one: 78½ inches of glass, 50,000 BTU, a fire that reads from the far end of a great room.
The shapes are where the Enclave earns its place in the collection. Single-sided, it is a linear fireplace of unusual freedom. See-through, it sits in the wall between two rooms and lights both. As a corner, the glass turns ninety degrees and the fire is watched from two directions at once. And as a bay peninsula, above, it is glazed on three sides and pushed out from the wall or into the middle of the floor, so that the fire becomes the thing the room is built around rather than something on one side of it. A corner kit converts the peninsula unit, and the single-sided models take a black or stainless surround or, for the flush look, none at all.
Inside the glass, the Enclave changes character completely with what is put in it. The bed is glass — glacier ice, cobalt, black, bronze or white — and on it goes whatever the room asks for: a driftwood, oak or birch log set, cannonballs, contemporary rocks, decorative stones or ember chunks. The liner behind is reflective glass, fluted brick or stacked brick, with a traditional brick for the 34. LED accent lighting washes the firebox so the fireplace reads even when it is not lit, and the Proflame II remote runs the flame, the thermostat, the lighting and, on a local network, the fireplace from a phone.
Plaster to the glass. The television where it belongs.
A fireplace that lets the wall be anything only pays off if the wall was drawn before the fireplace was chosen. The size decides the framing; the shape decides where the vent goes and which rooms it touches; the chase has to be built the way Marquis specifies for its clearances to hold; and the finish — the plaster, the oak, the stone — has to be planned to the glass edge with whoever is doing it. That is the work Maxwell Fireplace does in-house: choosing between the 34, the 48, the 61 and 62 and the 72 with you, and between one side of glass and three; planning the vent run and the framing; pulling the permits; and installing the fireplace with our own crew. The wall itself we plan together with the trades building it — yours, or ones we bring in — so the fire and the finish are drawn as one thing. Bring us the drawings, or a photograph of the wall, and we will tell you which Enclave it can hold.
Questions people tend to ask
Can I hang a television directly above the Enclave?
Yes — that is the point of it. Marquis vents the chase the fireplace sits in without fans, which keeps the wall above cool enough for what Marquis calls zero clearance to televisions and artwork. The screen can sit where you would want it in a room without a fire, rather than being pushed up out of reach of the heat. We build the chase to Marquis’s specification so that clearance holds.
Can the wall around it be wood, plaster or tile?
Yes. Marquis allows combustible materials right up to the glass door opening, all-wood framing, and reduced mantel clearances, all because of the vented chase. In practice that means the oak panelling, the plaster or the tile can run to the edge of the glass with no metal trim between, and the finish is planned with the trades doing it — yours, or ones we bring in.
Which sizes and shapes does it come in?
Four sizes: the Enclave 34, the 48, the tall-glass 61 and 62, and the 72, with viewing widths from 34 inches to 78½. Each can be single-sided, see-through, corner or bay peninsula, and a corner kit converts the peninsula unit. The single-sided models take a black or stainless surround or none at all. We choose the size against the wall and the shape against the rooms it will be seen from.
Does it actually heat the room?
It does. Marquis rates the Enclave from 25,000 BTU for the 34 up to 50,000 for the 72, and every one turns down — the 72 to 34,000 — so a mild evening gets a smaller fire. The Proflame II remote includes a thermostat, so the fireplace holds the room at a temperature rather than simply burning. Choose the size for the room rather than the wall and it will carry the space it sits in.
Is there a safety screen across the glass?
Not a steel one. The Enclave uses what Marquis calls an invisible glass safety barrier: a seamless pane that does the work of the mesh screen fitted to most gas fireplaces, so nothing sits between the room and the flame. It is part of why the fireplace reads so cleanly when it is lit.
Does it work in a power outage?
Yes. The ignition runs on batteries when the power is out, and because the chase vents itself with no fan, nothing about the installation depends on electricity. Marquis lists that as one of the benefits of the vented chase, and it is a real one in the neighbourhoods where the lines come down in a winter storm.
Where is the Enclave made, and where can I see one in Vancouver?
It is crafted in Canada by Kingsman, whose home is Winnipeg, Manitoba. Come to Maxwell Fireplace in North Vancouver and we will walk you through the four sizes, the four shapes, the media and the liners, and show you what the vented chase means for the wall you have in mind. We serve the North Shore, Vancouver and the Sea to Sky corridor.
