Gas street lamp
The Victorian street lamp on a cast-iron post that transformed city nights.
Gas street lighting came to London from 1807 and spread to Europe’s cities during the 19th century. Lamplighters made their rounds every evening and morning. A couple of thousand gas lamps still burn in London, in Westminster and around Covent Garden.
Materials: Cast iron, glass, copper
Manufacture: The post was cast in sections and bolted together; the copper and glass lantern was mounted on top, with the gas pipe in the post.
The fluted post with a crossbar where the lamplighter rested his ladder.
The four-sided glass lantern with a roof like a little hood.