RECENTLY, there has been an interesting development for NYC lamppost aficionados, all five of us. A classic landmarked Twinlamp at 5th Avenue and 28th Street was discovered missing (by me) back in June 24th as I was walking West 28th Street end to end. Time has not been kind to the remaining classic Twins, as most of 5th Avenue’s were replaced by special edition Donald Deskey poles in 1965; the few remaining were not maintained and have been gradually failing or massacred by trucks. Since 2005, 5th Avenue has lost Twins on 23rd Street, 32nd Street and now, 28th; all were designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, but that does nothing to prevent accidents or ensure maintenance.
This is the classic Twin in question as it stood on the corner since at least the 1920s. This is actually the second Twinlamp design, appearing in the 1910s; the first appeared in 1892 and were the first electric lampposts installed in NYC, along 5th Avenue. Only one original remains, a hybrid in front of the Seward statue at Madison Square. Along with other early classics it can be seen here.
The Department of Transportation has been reluctant to install new retro versions of the Twins. You can find new ones surrounding the NY Public Library and Bryant Park on 6th Avenue and West 40th and 42nd Streets, as well as Central Park West between Columbus Circle and West 72nd Street.
After its demise, this utilitarian pole was placed on the corner, with a stoplight and pedestrian lights.
I haven’t been able to get over to the corner lately as the weather has been horrid on the weekends and I am chained to the desk during the week; NYC’s lamppost king Bob Mulero is retired and has no such restrictions, visited on the only decent weather day last week, and found that the temporary pole had been replaced by a Twin, but this time a Twin Corvington, the first time I had ever seen one deployed on a street corner.
My belief is that the DOT intended to place a retro Twin here, but had none on hand–and settled for a Twin Corvington instead.
Prior to their revival in the 1980s, longarmed Corvingtons had never appeared in Twin form. Twin Corvingtons began to appear, but were used on the center medians of multilane streets, such as Jericho Turnpike on the undefended border of Little Neck and Floral Park.
One other circumstance makes 28th Street’s Twin Corv unique. Hybrid poles are nothing new; over the years the Department of Transportation, and before it the Department of Traffic, made Frankenstein poles out of whatever was in the yard. The pole referenced earlier at Madison Square is itself a hybrid, with an original Twin mast plopped on top of a Type 1 Bishop Crook base.
In this case it appears the Corvington twin masts were appended to a retro Type F base; you can find “new” Type Fs on 8th Street in Manhattan, Wyckoff Avenue in Brooklyn, Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village, and other spots.
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2/16/25