THERE are three separate styles of lampposts at the new-ish 72nd Street stationhouse at Verdi Square, where Broadway meets Amsterdam Avenue. Two I am familiar with, while the other one is something of a mystery. There’s an extremely fancy and detailed lamppost at Verdi Square, West 72nd where it meets Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway. The base features four sculpted lions’ heads and the apex boats four goat heads supporting four lamps surrounding a central luminaire.
I’ve seen this post in various spots around the city in old postcards, most often in Times Square where it must have resided for a time (or are there still more than one?). The post somewhat resembles the large lamp that accompanies the Queens-bound entrance lane at the Queensboro Bridge, which opened in 1909. As it turns out the Verdi Square post is from the same era.
Like the Queensboro Bridge it was part of a pair whose partner has been lost – along with a partner, it once stood guard at the steps of the Firemen’s Memorial at Riverside Drive and West 100th Street. They were removed in the 1980s after they were vandalized, and one went into storage and the other was cleaned up, rebronzed, and placed in Verdi Square in 2004. As for the one on the postcards in Times Square? Perhaps one of the two originals visited there for awhile, it’s the Crossroads of the World, after all.
Just a few feet away are a Type B park lamp, designed by Henry Bacon way back in the 1910s. These populate NYC parks by the thousands, but are sometimes used to illuminate sidewalks, as here. Butting in on the action is an IND station indicator lamp, designed in the 1930s and at first used exclusively to mark IND stations, but now can be used for all stations, even if they originated with IRT or BMT lines. The green topper means this entrance is available 24/7. It appears to have an attached solar panel.
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5/6/26