THERE aren’t that many “original” Type F lampposts remaining in New York City. In fact, off the top of my head, I can rattle off the locations where you can still find them “in situ.” There are two or three at the pedestrian bridges over the Belt Parkway in Bensonhurst (which are being demolished in 2022 and 2023); there’s one on West 13th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue in Greenwich Village; there’s one on the pedestrian walkway at 53rd Avenue west of 65th Place in Maspeth, Queens; and that’s about it. There are retro versions aplenty, on West 8th Street again in the Village, on Metropolitan Avenue in Glendale, and on Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood. The retros have been deployed sparingly.
However this model was used to illuminate side streets by the hundreds, especially in Manhattan and the Bronx, and in the early 20th Century taller versions were used on main routes and avenues. They were scrapped beginning in the 1950s when NYC’s iconic octagonal poles gradually eased them out.
And then there’s this one, illuminating the walkway in front of 269 Clinton Avenue north of DeKalb Avenue in tony Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. I haven’t been by at night and have no idea if it works (if you live in the area, fill me in). How it got here, who knows by now…it’s likely that even if I knocked on the door and asked, the current owner wouldn’t know. It’s outfitted with a Westinghouse “cuplight” introduced around 1950, and is short even for a Type F.
Proof that the post does indeed light up at night, courtesy Forgotten Fan Rachel A.
Again…an abiding mystery.
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3/30/23
9 comments
Both pedestrian bridges over the Belt Parkway in Bensonhurst are being completely rebuilt.
The 17th Ave bridge was demolished last November.
The 27th Ave bridge is also slated for demolition and replacement.
What will happen to the lampposts is unknown.
Sick transit, Gloria!
The F-types (double-hung versions) (and short, as I recollect) ruled Linden Blvd east of Remsen Av in Brooklyn from the 30s to 1958, when they were replaced by taller octagonal poles with cup lamps. What was unusual for the time (at least in Brooklyn) was that they held mercury bulbs! Possible the first in Brooklyn. All those lampposts have long since been replaced, multiple times.
The east end of Rockaway Blvd in Rosedale was a Type F stronghold as late as 1975. In fact Rock Blvd served as an anicent lamppost museum. Its last Corvington was killed by a truck around 2000.
I remember that too. Short poles were needed there because that part of Rockaway Blvd. was in the flight path for landing planes.
I live in Clinton Hill & checked it out – it works!
Can you get a photo?
I got several photos but I don’t see how to upload it – tried to email it to you but it came back as undeliverable
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