NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Gaslighting in America
A Guide for Historic Preservation
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PLATES
Store lighted by gas pillars, 1854. |
Plate 30 |
Standards, or "pillars," were used with some
frequency for lighting shop counters and bars during the 1850s. This
Duval lithograph clearly shows the lighting of Charles Oakford's Model
Hat Store in Philadelphia. The elaborate fittings, including the
three-light gas pillars, were installed in 1854. Oakford so prized his
fittings that when he moved from this store to the Continental Hotel in
1860 he reused everything movable except the marble floor. [58] The Boston jewelry store of Jones, Ball and
Company had similar lighting, except there the three-light pillars were
posed on pedestals set between the glass topped counters. [59] A lithograph of the Gem Saloon in New York
titled "Temperance, but no Maine Law" published by A. Fay in 1854 shows
the marble bar and mirror-topped back bar with single light pillars. [60] The interior of Thomas Brothers' Bar Room as
shown in a wood engraving published in the New York Illustrated
News for October 6, 1860, was lighted by chandeliers and by
seven-branched putto-supported pillars on the bar. [61]
The lighting of stores varied greatly. A Rosenthal
lithograph of L. J. Levy and Company's dry goods emporium of 1857 in
Philadelphia shows elaborate pillars, brackets, and chandeliers. [62] A wood engraving of the much less elaborate
dry goods establishment of James Beck and Company in New York shows
rather simple four-branched chandeliers and, over the counters, a large
number of single-burner harp fixtures of the type commonly used to light
front entries. Peterson and Humphry's carpet store in New York was
lighted by numerous gas T's. Gas T's were also used to light Cushings
and Bailey's bookstore in Baltimore, but there Argand burners were
substituted for the more usual fishtail burners to provide ample reading
light. [63]
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Courtesy of the Library Company of
Philadelphia. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Chandeliers with unshaded burners, 1861. |
Plate 31 |
More often than not, burners were protected from
drafts by glass shades. However, shades were not invariably used. This
detail from a wood engraving after a drawing by Winslow Homer shows the
forms of typical fishtail jet burners unshaded at the tips of the
chandeliers' branches. This illustration was published in Harper's
Weekly for December 28, 1861, and represents the interior of the
City Assembly Rooms, built ca. 1859, in New York City during a charity
fair in late 1861. [64]
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From the Library of
Congress. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Gas table lamp, 1855. |
Plate 32 |
As early as 1853, gas table lamps were in use. A
watercolor of Mrs. A. W. Smith's parlor at Broad and Spruce Streets in
Philadelphia painted in 1853 by Joseph Shoemaker Russell shows a gas
table lamp attached by a slender brass elbow to a bracket. The lamp is a
quite simple one, composed of a spirally turned standard on what appears
to be a small square marble base. [65]
This gilt-bronze example, one of a pair by an
unidentified maker, has been dated ca. 1855 and was used in Baltimore.
[66] As the gas is supplied by a pipe from
underneath the base, its form is unusual for a gaslamp and is related to
the fixed pillar concept. The more commonly used portable single-burner
lamps of the period were fed gas through a rubber hose connected at the
side of the base. The elaborate Neo-Rococo design combines flowers,
fruit, foliage, a putto with a bird (at the springing point of the
arms), and four small heads, two male and two female, on the arms. The
glass bobeches and teardrop pendants add further flitter to an already
eye filling tour de force of lavish ornament.
The shades are of a type normally found on oil lamps
rather than on gas burners. They certainly are not well adapted for
fishtail jets and could not have worked at all with batswing burners. No
other instance of the use of shades of this shape with gas burners is
known on American fixtures.
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Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Rogers Fund, 1967. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Gas brackets from the 1856 Starr, Fellows and Company catalogue. |
Plate 33 |
Until after the Civil War, Philadelphia retained its
lead as the principal manufacturing center of American gas fixtures
primarily because of the volume produced in that city by Cornelius,
Baker and Company. New York and Boston were also producing significant
quantities of gas fixtures during the 1850s and later (see plate 20).
For example, New York City directories recorded two gas fixture makers
in 1847, but by 1860 their number had risen to twenty-four. [67] Not the least important among New York firms
was Starr, Fellows and Company, which became Fellows, Hoffman and
Company on February 1, 1857. [68] Fortunately,
a copy of a Starr, Fellows catalogue dated 1856 with Fellows, Hoffman
addenda through 1858-1859 has survived. This ephemeral publication is
the earliest complete American catalogue of gas fixtures that has been
rediscovered. [69] It is an invaluable source
of information for the positive identification of many unmarked
fixtures.
The preface to the catalogue states that "a few
samples only" are presented, as the "styles are continually changing."
The text added, "We get up, to order, Chandeliers, Pendants, and
Brackets, of any design, as regards pattern, or size that may be
desired." Furthermore, "These are all made in the various colors of
Gilt, Olive, French Bronze, Artistic Bronze, or any two colors in
combination and with or without Slides." [70] The lithographed
illustrations were made from drawings done by young ladies who were
students at the New York School of Art. The firm cited this as evidence
that they were patronizing a worthy cause; however, it is possible that
the budding artists may have been paid somewhat less than the rate
required by full-fledged professionals. The text reference to this and
the preceding page of gas brackets (not reproduced) reads as follows:
"These Brackets are finished in any modern Fancy Color desired. Nos. 40,
734, and 317, on this and 700, 724, and 112 on succeeding page [shown
here] make very fine Church Fixtures." It is difficult to perceive any
specifically ecclesiastical character in their design, however.
Salesmanship sometimes takes odd turns!
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Courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village,
Massachusetts. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Morning-Glory bracket by Starr, Fellows and Company, 1856. |
Plate 34 |
This is a morning-glory bracket (mislabeled "Lily")
shown on the preceding Starr, Fellows and Company plate. Fixtures with
glass "blossoms" of this type imitating morning-glories, lilies, or
fuchsias enjoyed a minor vogue during the 1850s. Characteristically, the
gas light jetted straight out instead of upward as on the more
conventional models. This and a similar bracket, probably by another
maker, are in the collection at the Henry Ford Museum. Plate 1 of the
catalogue of the Archer, Warner and Miskey designs (not shown)
illustrates another "Lily" among their collection of swing brackets.
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Courtesy of the Collections of
Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn,
Michigan. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Starr, Fellows and Company chandelier, ca. 1856. |
Plate 35 |
Another item attributable to Starr, Fellows and
Company through plate 33 of this report is this chandelier, whose
branches are identical with those of the bracket numbered 700. However,
this original example, now in the Smithsonian Institution Castle has
been subjected to some alterations during refurbishing. Originally, the
finish would have been varied, not all bright gold. The globular shades
would have had smaller bases and been made of a lighter, less densely
frosted glass. Because reproductions currently on the market
unsatisfactorily imitate different styles of shades, restorationists are
much in need of better commercially available reproductions.
Since 1964 the Smithsonian Institution Castle has
collected over sixty 19th century gas fixtures for restoration. This
represents one of the major collections in the United States today in
one building.
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Courtesy of the Smithsonian
Institution. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Detail of chandelier in plate 35. |
Plate 36 |
It is by close observation of details such as
branches and gas keys that the makers of fixtures may be identified. As
already mentioned, this branch (a detail of the chandelier in the
previous plate) identifies the fixture as having been manufactured by
Starr, Fellows and Company. It also links at least two chandeliers
formerly in Quarters One at Springfield, Massachusetts, Armory and two
others once in the George Washington Whittemore House in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, to Starr, Fellows and Company as well.
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Courtesy of the Smithsonian
Institution. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Various fixtures from Starr, Fellows and Company catalogue, 1856. |
Plate 37 |
This plate, also from the Starr, Fellows and Company
catalogue, presents a variety of designs typical of the 1850s.
Chandeliers having several rods (no. 78 and no. 80) to conduct the gas
instead of a single stem to conduct the gas, were common during the
1850s. Later examples are very rare. Chandeliers no. 357 and no. 594 are
of the standard central stemmed type that usually had three, four, or
six branches and occasionally five. Bracket no. 22 is of a simple form,
and no. 127 (lower right) is a hall light, or pendant, of the
characteristic harp type with a glass or porcelain smoke bell. An
elaborate variation on the hall harp theme is shown in no. 131.
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Courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village,
Massachusetts. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Rod-hung chandelier, ca. 1856, similar to no.78 on plate 37. |
Plate 38 |
This chandelier of the rod-hung type has many
elements that are similar to, although not identical with, those of the
Starr Fellows no. 78 on the previous plate. Because this chandelier has
keys precisely like those of the chandelier mentioned on plate 26, it is
probable that all are by the same maker. An attribution to Cornelius,
Baker and Company seems perfectly plausible in this case; the likelihood
is that Starr, Fellows and Company deliberately produced their no. 78 to
compete with an already extant design. The finish of this chandelier,
one of a pair in the office of the Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution, is dark bronze with gilt accents. The modern shades are
incorrect in shape and the quality of the glass, which is too thick and
too heavily frosted.
Tudor Place in Washington has a five-rod chandelier
that has elements identical in appearance with those of Starr, Fellows
and Company's no. 78. [71] The George Washington Whittemore House formerly
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had a three-rod chandelier with many
elements, including bowl, branches, keys, and rods, identical with the
Smithsonian pair. [72] A three-rod,
six-branched example once hung in the library of the T. B. Winchester
House at 138 Beacon Street in Boston. [73] As
this last chandelier had no elements identical with either Starr,
Fellows and Company's chandeliers or those attributed here to Cornelius
and Baker, it seems evident that yet another maker manufactured
rod-suspension gaseliers.
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Courtesy of the Smithsonian
Institution. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Various fixtures from Fellows, Hoffman and Company catalogue, 1857-1859. |
Plate 39 |
This plate bears the newly transformed Fellows,
Hoffman firm "name and style" and must date between 1857 and 1859. Shown
are two hall pendants (top right), a small pendant, a comparatively
elaborate "T" pendant (bottom left), a chandelier (bottom right), and a
lamp or "stand" (top left). Under the last fixture, the caption "Spring
Gas Stand" refers to the allegorical subject of the statuette, not to
any mechanism activated by a spring. Another page (not shown) of the
catalogue shows a lamp captioned "Franklin Gas Stand" with a Statuette
of Benjamin Franklin.
The text of the earlier Starr, Fellows catalogue page
headed "Gas Reading Lamps" reads as follows:
These Lamps or Gas Stands, are furnished with any
desired length of tube6 feet being the quantity usually required,
which is prepared exclusively for Gas, and will not leak. The hook is
fitted with a universal socket, which will fit any common fishtail or
bat-wing burner and is of sufficient length to go over the Glass Shade
of the Parlor Chandelier. Elegant Paper Shade Reflectors accompany these
Stands.
At least two examples of the chandelier no. 103 are
known to exist. One is the collection of Lee B. Anderson in New York
City. [74] The other is illustrated by the
following plate 40.
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Courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village,
Sturbridge, Massachusetts. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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myers/plate4.htm
Last Updated: 30-Nov-2007
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