I seem to be on a street furniture bender this week, but in case you hadn’t noticed, there is still one genuine (not cutesy-poo pastiche) early Fifth Avenue lamp post standing alone, albeit overshadowed by an aggressive cobrahead, facing the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street and Broadway. This particular design dates from the early Twentieth Century, and had replaced an even earlier and more ornate gas fitting featuring massive hanging globes. Sadly, there are cables taped up it and a discarded Heineken bottle jammed in the access panel at the base. I believe that this is the last remaining example and yet it seems to be treated with casual disregard rather than being recognized as a real piece of design history. Shame on us.
2 replies on “The Light Stuff”
It really is a tragedy that all this stuff gets ignored and then disappears. Or is someone somewhere in the City collecting all this stuff?
It is also an indignity to have standard roadsigns strapped to the thing.