MASPETH TYPE F

by Kevin Walsh

Amazingly, the one and only object protected by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in Maspeth, Queens is this vintage Type F lamppost that illuminates a staircase connecting 65th Place and 64th Street at 53rd Avenue. When I first saw it in the 1970s, it was unpainted and the luminaire had long burned out, but it’s been repainted and given  a new lamp.

Type Fs once illuminated side streets by the flock, as well as Manhattan avenues such as 7th. Like the white rhino, its numbers have drastically decreased until only a very few remain: a couple of overpasses on the Belt Parkway in Bensonhurst, and West 13th between 6th and 7th in Greenwich Village. Ogther than those and this one, I can’t think of another one.

Beefier retro versions of the classic Type F have been installed on 8th Street in the Village as well as Wyckoff Avenue on the Bushwick-Ridgewood border.

2/26/14

1 comment

Wayne Whitehorne February 27, 2014 - 12:00 am

I remember seeing these along Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn – between Conduit Boulevard and Kings Highway. Twins in the medians, singles along the service lanes.

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