ADMITTEDLY this is not my favorite lamppost around town, but the lamps designed and installed by the not for profit organization called the 34th Street Partnership have now been in place for over thirty years, so they do have some history. I’m unsure if they’re maintained by the NYC Department of Transportation or by the Partnership. For short, I call them the 34s. Beginning in 1992, they completely took over Midtown in most spots, main and side streets alike.
I suppose I deride the 34s for their unrelenting consistency and sameness. However, here’s a pairing at the corner of 3rd Avenue and East 43rd, a corner I used to pass each and every evening on my way to work at Photo-Lettering, the city’s biggest type shop (you kidz, there used to be things called “type shops.”) On the left is the original configuration of the 34, a single green pole with the fixture cobraed over the street. On the right is the configuration you see 90% of the time, a Twin 34 with both lamps parallel to the avenue.
Now, the previous NYC lamppost that broke convention so radically was the Donald Deskey pole (beginning in 1958) which I often praise for being so adaptable. However, one thing the Deskeys couldn’t do was support guy-wired stoplight masts and as you can see here, the 34s were up to the task. Even retro-Corvingtons, Twinlamps and Bishop Crooks have proven adaptable! But not the Deskeys.
Hey, the 34s are here to stay, and we better make our peace with them.
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2/26/24