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A lot of hot air goes through a fireplace, the chimney just draws it up and out. Now that is what the chimney is SUPPOSE to do so it is NOT a design fault, but block off the FRONT of the fireplace to prevent the air from escaping. I would be careful and NOT block the chimney itself, you do not know what is being drawn through that chimney (i.e. the furnace and/or hot water tank) thus the chimney needs to be kept clean, but use plastic to block off the front of the fireplace so as little heat as possible escapes through the fireplace.
Side note: You do NOT report having any small children, be careful with plastic and small children. Plastic is designed to prevent air from flowing and that is good in a fireplace, but bad for a child's nose and mouth. Just a word of warning to be careful with the use of plastic at any height small children can get at it.
Last comment: You have an actual brick FRAMED house!!! Very rare, most built before 1850s when what we call nails become common (nails existed since ancient time, but rarely used in housing till the 1850 when iron production really took off in the US, prior to that most housing was tongue and grove, much more expensive to make and when nails became common around 1850 rapidly fell out of favor). The main competitor to Brick frame homes and tongue and grove home were log homes, which only needed a minimum of nails to stay in place (And most log homes did not even need any nails). With the introduction of cheap nails into the marketplace all three types of homes rapidly fell out of favor, replaced by today's wood framed homes, which can be faced with wood, brick, stone or any other facing material. Yes, brick homes today do NOT rely on bricks for support of the home, support is provided by pine lumber even in brick homes today. Prior to the 1850s Brick frame homes were common, and stayed common for another 30-40 years but slowly replaced completely by Wood Frame Housing by the 1890s (When the American Four Square became the the most common house design, a domination that only ended with WWII and the decision to eliminate Poaches AND have a Garage for the Car).
In the Hill District of Pittsburgh you still see a lot of Brick frame homes, occasionally one is torn down just for the bricks (and ever so often without knowledge of the owner, which is one way to increase your profit margin). Brick frame buildings take a beating and last forever. Near my old office they tore one down about 10 years ago (and this was a FACTORY Building, a HUGE BUILDING for its time period, late 1800s). They took tractor trailer loads of bricks out of that site. The County wanted it as a parking lot, and paid for tearing the building down (it has NOT been used in something like 40-50 years) by selling the bricks (Showing you how much brick is used in such constriction).
Now Brick is NOT a good insulator, but if it has Plaster on the inside of the wall, the Plaster and the wood frame used to hold up the plaster will provide plenty of insulation. Now if you owned the house I would install some 2 inch solid insulation over the old plaster for additional insulation, but you do NOT own it and I doubt you will get a return on such an investment over the time you rent the house.
Thus the only place you can attack the cold is insulation in the roof (Which can be relatively cheap and easy to lay down fiberglass, through installing the fiberglass probably will NOT pay for itself this winter) and sealing the windows and putting plastic on the inside so that plastic act like an insulated unit (This will pay for itself this winter thus I strongly recommend it). Those are very cheap and cost effective (Through my warning about plastic still applies, through I grew up in a house with bad windows and remember my mother putting up the plastic every winter so the concern as to plastic is more a warning then anything else).
Now the basement being "Cold and Damp" is the result of two things, first what is you average yearly temperature? Generally the Temperature of the Ground is the same as the Average Yearly temperature, in Pittsburgh that is 58 degree, I live in the Mountains in Johnstown Pa and it is 54 degree. Unless you install a heater that will be the temperature in the basement all year round. Thus it should be around 58 degree (you are in central Ohio about the same temperature as Pittsburgh).
Now the "Dampness" is another question. The area my be seeping water through the walls into the basement but if that is true you will NOT see any increase in water after any rainstorms. If the dampness increase after any rainstorms, then the water is getting into the brick and seeping into the basement through the bricks NOT the stone foundation. That is NOT serious as to the building itself but can be stopped by having someone "reface" the bricks i.e. fill in the area between the bricks with new mortar so that water flow down the front of the bricks NOT inside the brick frame. Now this is more of a problem with brick faced homes then Brick framed homes but may be the cause of the Dampness. The problem is the solution is, like replacing the windows, of a long term nature i.e. a lot of money this year with a return over the next 20-40 years. Thus NOT worth it to you to do, but something the landlord should look into.
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