no support for fireplace

Here is an interesting picture..... it is the underside of a prefab metal fireplace unit. I don't know the whole story of how this unit came to be unsupported or how it magically is floating in mid air like that. I suspect that when the home was originally built the framers left a place out of the floor for a traditional masonry fireplace and chimney. The builder's must have changed their mind and installed a prefab unit instead. The unit was probably attached at the front and that held it in place until the masons came and corbelled a few brick underneath it for support. Amazing!