Summary

A gas street light comprising a Brompton-type column, which is generally thought to date from the late C19, with a later extension shaft and a Rochester-type lantern manufactured by Sugg Lighting Limited in the later C20.

Description

A gas street light comprising a Brompton-type column, which is generally thought to date from the late C19, with a later extension shaft and a Rochester-type lantern manufactured by Sugg Lighting Limited in the later C20.

MATERIALS: cast iron lamp post with a glazed lantern of iron, spun copper and enamelled steel.

DESCRIPTION: the lamp post consists of a tapering ‘Brompton’ column with acanthus leaves at the base and top and extending shaft and topped with an Upright Rochester lantern. The replacement lantern has a circular drum and rain-shield above an inverted, six-mantle burner in a teardrop-shaped glass enclosure with a drainage hole to its base. The assembly is suspended in an iron cradle with two, curved stabilising uprights projecting from the clock box.

History

Gas street lighting first appeared in London in June 1807 when Frederick Albert Winsor gave a public demonstration of gas lights in Pall Mall. The expansion of the railways coinciding with the development of urban gas works in the 1840s facilitated the proliferation of cast iron lamp posts with open-flame gas burners across the capital in the mid-C19. This feature of industrialisation was seen to contribute to London’s international standing and also facilitated the development of modern urban living, increasingly unconstrained by daylight hours.

Electric street lighting was introduced from the 1880s and the gas industry responded by making technological improvements to gas lights, principally the incandescent gas mantle in 1896. This significantly increased the efficacy of gas light, but it was not until the introduction of the inverted gas mantle in 1905 that gas street lights were really able to match the efficiency and brightness of the rival electric carbon filament lamps. In the 1920s and 1930s, many gas lamp posts in Westminster were upgraded with new lanterns fitted with inverted mantles. Gas remained an important source of power for street lighting as late as the mid-C20, and smaller numbers of lamps have continued to run on gas into the early C21.

The Smith Square area was laid out in the C18 and is named after Henry Smith who owned the land to the north. At the centre of Smith Square is St John’s Church, 1713-1728 designed by Thomas Archer. To the north, early C18 terraced houses are located on Lord North Street, Cowley Street and Barton Street. Great College Street includes a mixture of C18 houses and early C20 houses and offices. This pattern is also seen on Gayfere Street. Tufton Street includes early and mid-C20 offices. To the south, Dean Trench Street and Dean Bradley Street include examples of mid-C20 houses and offices. Neoclassical mid-C20 offices are also located on Dean Stanley Street. Together, the Smith Square area is a clear illustration of a unified C18 development punctuated by later C20 buildings.

A historic image indicates that it is probable that the position and configuration of the column, base and extension shaft outside 22 Gayfere Street has not changed since at least the 1970s. The style of column is known as Brompton Parish, which are generally understood to date from the late C19. The extension shaft to the top of the column was added later to raise the height of the lantern and improve light distribution, possibly around 1930 when an Upright Rochester Lantern was installed replacing an earlier, outdated lantern. Today, the Rochester-type lantern is a post-war replica supplied by Sugg Lighting, probably installed in the 1980s replacing the older Rochester lantern by William Sugg and Company. Rochester lanterns were the 'storm-proof' version of a series of lanterns introduced from the early C20 and went on to become one of the most popular designs of shadowless lanterns. William Sugg and Company sold large numbers for use in street lighting, railway stations and goods yards.

Founded in Westminster in 1837, the company became an important supplier of interior and exterior gas lighting and received important commissions such as lighting the exterior of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in 1901. After initially operating from Marsham Street, for most of its lifetime the company was based at Vincent Works, Regency Street and Ranelagh Works, Chapter Street. Lighting manufacture was paused during the First World War while the company produced munitions, but post-war work picked up with the production of conversion sets for pre-war street lanterns, many of which still had upright mantles and required updating to more efficient inverted mantles. Manufacture was paused again in the Second World War but afterwards demand for new Rochester lanterns greatly increased, partly to replace lamps damaged in the Blitz. William Sugg and Company was acquired by Thorn Electrical Industries Limited in 1968, but in 1973 a new incarnation of the company called Sugg Lighting Limited was formed and continued to produce specialist gas lighting fixtures based on historic models.

All of the lamp posts along Gayfere Street remain gas lit.

Reasons for Listing

The lamp post outside 22 Gayfere Street, probably dating from the late C19 and early to later C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the well-crafted, decorative column in cast iron, which is a good example of historic street furniture;
* for the design of the 1980s Upright Rochester lantern, the final C20 evolution of the enduring, inverted and 'shadowless' gas lamp, designed by William Sugg and Company Limited and updated by Sugg Lighting Limited.

Historic interest:

* as a good example of an historic lamp column with the latest improved lantern, illustrating the final stage of the evolution of gas lighting technology in the C20.

Group value:

* as part of an adjacent set of historic lamp posts on Gayfere Street, Tufton Street and Great College Street and a wider group across other key streets within the Smith Square area.

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