This magnificent specimen, albeit missing its glass reflector bowl, is one of thousands that formerly lit downtown Brooklyn’s side streets. Before and just after Brooklyn’s consolidation with Greater New York in 1898, Brooklyn had different species of cast-iron lamps, which somewhat resembled Manhattan’s Corvingtons, Bishop Crooks, Type Fs, etc. but were wildly different as far as the iron scrollwork and decorations were concerned.
It was the Manhattan forms that ultimately prevailed and took hold across the five boroughs until they began to become displaced by modern streamlines posts beginning in 1950.
Since many of the molds for Manhattan-style posts have been revived of late (the Triborough Bridge posts have been the latest, in Queens) I wish Brooklyn would hark back to its legacy and re-cast some of its own beautiful designs like this one.
7/22/14