Basalt Fire Pit

A basalt stone fire pit assembled from four blocks of solid stone. The outer faces are rock-faced, with heavy tool marks, visible fractures and broken edges, and they read charcoal, blue gray and ash. The inner faces are sawn clean and show the warmer tan of fresh basalt, so the eye is pulled from the dark rough exterior to the pale rectangle of the opening. It is a heavy, plain thing and the contrast is the whole design.

It measures 70 inches wide, 54 inches deep and 18 inches high overall. The opening is about 52 by 36 inches; the blocks themselves are 18 inches thick. The four pieces separate for transport and are set on a prepared gravel or stone base with a forklift. Basalt takes heat well; run gas into the center, or burn wood where code allows.

Set it on pale limestone paving or light gravel so the dark stone reads as a block of shadow, with poured concrete, corten steel or timber around it, on a large terrace or beside a pool. A stone fire pit of this footprint needs room on all sides for seating. It is in our yard in Marina Del Rey; come and see the color in daylight, or ask us for photographs and a delivered price.