Lamp post outside Astral House, Maunsel Street

Lamp post outside Astral House, Maunsel Street, London, SW1P 2EA

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1490196
Date first listed:: 10-Oct-2024
List Entry Name:: Lamp post outside Astral House, Maunsel Street
Statutory Address:: Lamp post outside Astral House, Maunsel Street, London, SW1P 2EA

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1490196
Date first listed:: 10-Oct-2024
List Entry Name:: Lamp post outside Astral House, Maunsel Street
Location Description:
Statutory Address 1:: Lamp post outside Astral House, Maunsel Street, London, SW1P 2EA

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Lamp post outside Astral House, Maunsel Street, London, SW1P 2EA

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Greater London Authority
District:: City of Westminster (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ2972978954

Summary

A gas street light comprising a Brompton-style column with a Grosvenor-style lantern, probably dating from the early to mid-C20.

Reasons for Designation

The lamp post outside Astral House, Maunsel Street, probably dating from the early C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:

* as a good example of a historic gas lamp post probably dating from the early C20.

Architectural interest:

* for the well-crafted, decorative column in cast iron, which is a good example of historic street furniture; * for the design of the Grosvenor-style lantern, a popular and enduring style of lantern.

Group value:

* with early-C19 buildings and historic lamp posts on Maunsel Street and as part of a wider group of historic lamp posts in the City of Westminster.

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 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.

Developed on the site of Market Gardens, Maunsel Street (originally New Street) was built in the 1820s possibly by Paul Storr, a silversmith and speculative developer. In the mid-to-late C19, the terraced houses were inhabited by artisans and tradesmen. By the 1911 census, the street’s demographic had evolved to include professionals such as policemen and chauffeurs.

Details

A gas street light comprising a Brompton column with a Grosvenor-type lantern, probably dating from the early to mid-C20.

MATERIALS: cast iron lamp post with a glazed lantern of iron, spun copper and enamelled steel. The decorative fret around the top of the lantern is probably cast lead.

DESCRIPTION: the lamp post consists of a tapering ‘Brompton’ column with agapanthus leaves at the base and top and topped with a Grosvenor lantern. The base of the column has an oval plaque number 6477. The lantern is circular, with tapered and curved glazing panels with metal glazing bars, topped with a decorative, perforated fret and an ogee finial to the tent. Inside there is a six-mantle inverted burner with a Horstmann 14 day clockwork time controller and a steel reflector. The lantern is mounted on a three-legged frog attached to the collar of the column.

Sources

Books and journals
Bradley, S, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England, London 6: Westminster, (2003), 724-725
Pollard, N E, 'A Short History of Public Lighting in the City of Westminster' in IPLE Lighting Journal, (March 1984), 53-58

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.