Lamp post outside 11-14 Hanover Place

Summary

A gas lamp post originally installed in the early C20 comprising a cast iron column replaced between 1968 and 1982 and a Grosvenor lantern, probably dating from the first half of the C20.

Reasons for Designation

The lamp post outside 11-14 Hanover Place is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the well-crafted, decorative column in cast iron, which is a good example of historic street furniture;
* for the quality and design of the Grosvenor lantern, a popular design of gas lantern often used in locations where something of superior aesthetic quality was required.

Historic interest:

* as an example of historic technology that played a significant role in the history of public street lighting.

Group value:

* as part of a group of historic lamps around the Covent Garden area.

History

Gas street lighting first appeared in London in June 1807 when Frederick Albert Winsor gave a public demonstration of gas lights in Pall Mall. The expansion of the railways coinciding with the development of urban gas works in the 1840s facilitated the proliferation of cast iron lamp posts with open-flame gas burners across the capital in the mid-C19. This feature of industrialisation was seen to contribute to London’s international standing and also facilitated the development of modern urban living, increasingly unconstrained by daylight hours.

Electric street lighting was introduced from the 1880s and the gas industry responded by making technological improvements to gas lights, principally the incandescent gas mantle in 1896. This significantly increased the efficacy of gas light, but it was not until the introduction of the inverted gas mantle in 1905 that gas street lights were really able to match the efficiency and brightness of the rival electric carbon filament lamps. In the 1920s and 1930s, many gas lamp posts in Westminster were upgraded with new, ‘shadowless’ lanterns fitted with inverted mantles. Gas remained an important source of power for street lighting as late as the mid-C20, and smaller numbers of lamps have continued to run on gas into the early C21.

Hanover Place first appears on William Morgan's map of 1682 as Queen's Head Alley, probably named after a nearby public house. It was later renamed Phoenix Alley, possibly after the Phoenix Theatre on Drury Lane. In 1846 it was renamed Hanover Court and became known as Hanover Place by the 1940s. It is not known when the alley was first lit by gas, but by the mid-C20 it had lamp posts at both ends and midway outside numbers 11-14.

A photograph of Hanover Place taken from Floral Street and dated 1968 (London Picture Archive record number 137050) shows a 1910 lamp post with a later Rochester lantern at the south entrance to Hanover Place, and also appears to show a lamp post of a different design in the position of the present lamp post outside numbers 11-14. The present lamp post is clearly visible in photographs dated 1982 onwards. The present lamp post stands proud of the pavement with the arches in the bottom of the pedestal visible; these are normally hidden beneath the ground. This, along with the historic photographs, suggests that the present lamp post was installed between 1968 and 1982 to replace the original. It is not clear whether the lantern was also replaced at the same time, but the present Grosvenor lantern appears to date from the early C20. According to historic Sugg catalogues, Grosvenor lanterns were often specified for locations where something of superior aesthetic quality to a standard square lantern was desirable.

Details

A gas lamp post comprising a cast iron column and a Grosvenor lantern, probably dating from the early C20.

MATERIALS: a cast iron column with a glazed, metal lantern with an enamel reflector.

DESCRIPTION: the lamp post is positioned centrally in Hanover Place, directly in front of numbers 11-14. It has an ornate, cast iron column, which is approximately three metres tall, with acanthus leaf decoration to the top and bottom of the shaft, which is slighty tapered and of octagonal section. The shaft rises from a large, square pedestal with chamfered corners and an applied registration plaque bearing the number 7522. At the top of the shaft a three-legged frog supports a Grosvenor lantern, which is circular, with tapered and curved glazing panels and metal glazing bars. The lantern is topped with a decorative, perforated fret and an ogee finial to the tent. Inside there is a four-mantle burner, and enamel reflector, a Horstmann 14-day control clock and a Comet igniter.

Sources

Books and journals
Pollard, N E, A Short History of Public Lighting in the City of Westminster in IPLE Lighting Journal, (March 1984), 53-58

End of official list entry

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