Whenever I’m in lower Manhattan, if I can I check on one of FNY’s favorite talismans: what has been the last remaining wall-mounted Bishop Crook lamppost in New York City. Wall-mounted lamps are scattered around Manhattan and Brooklyn and are located on narrow streets and narrow sidewalks, where there might not be enough room to place a full-size lamppost.
The wall bracket Bishop Crook matches the intricately wrought ironwork of the full-sized Crook, but adds two stylized masts to attach it to a building. In this case, the original Acorn-type pendant lamp was replaced in the 1950s by a Westinghouse AK-10 “cuplight” with an incandescent bulb. The glass reflector bowl has been missing for a couple of decades.
It is affixed to the rear end of a Pace University building that originally was the home of the NY Times newspaper, constructed in 1889 [George Post, arch.] After the Times moved uptown in 1905, the building gained a couple of floors. Pace purchased it in 1952.
Unfortunately on my walk up Nassau Street this weekend, I found my old pal had left, leaving a couple of marks where the brackets attached to the wall. I hope it’s in some treasure-seeker’s possession and hasn’t been tossed on the scrap heap. Perhaps the Department of Transportation has it in storage and will replace it later…I can but hope.
NOTE: this post is protected by NYC Landmarks, which should mean that it would be put back on the wall. Here’s the full LPC Report.
Landmarks reports: “The lamppost was taken down for restoration and will be reinstalled once the work is complete.”
3/29/19
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”