Lamp post next to 3 Dean Trench Street and outside 36 Smith Square

Summary

A gas street light comprising an ornate column probably dating from the late C19, with a Grosvenor-type lantern installed probably around 1930.

Reasons for Designation

The lamp post next to 3 Dean Trench Street and outside of 36 Smith Square 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 design of the Grosvenor-style lantern, a popular and enduring style of lantern.

Historic interest:

* as a good example of a historic gas lamp column probably dating from the late C19 with an early C20 lantern.

Group value:

* as part of an adjacent set of historic lamp posts on Dean Bradley Street, Dean Stanley Street and Dean Trench Street and a wider group across other key streets within the Smith Square 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 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.

The Smith Square area was laid out in the C18 and is named after Henry Smith who owned the land to the north. At the centre of Smith Square is St John’s Church, 1713-1728 designed by Thomas Archer. To the north, early C18 terraced houses are located on Lord North Street, Cowley Street and Barton Street. Great College Street includes a mixture of C18 houses and early C20 houses and offices. This pattern is also seen on Gayfere Street. Tufton Street includes early and mid-C20 offices. To the south, Dean Trench Street and Dean Bradley Street include examples of mid-C20 houses and offices. Neoclassical mid-C20 offices are also located on Dean Stanley Street. Together, the Smith Square area is a clear illustration of a unified C18 development punctuated by later C20 buildings.

The lamp post next to 3 Dean Trench Street and outside 36 Smith Square was probably installed as part of a linked lighting scheme that included additional gas lamps along Dean Trench Street as well as around Smith Square. The ornate design of the column suggests it dates from the late C19. The Grosvenor-type lantern was probably installed around 1930 to replace an earlier lantern.

Details

A gas street light comprising an ornate column probably dating from the late C19, with a Grosvenor-type lantern probably installed around 1930.

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

DESCRIPTION: the lamp post consists of a column with acanthus leaves at the base and floral mouldings and topped with a Grosvenor lantern. The square tapered base of the column has an oval plaque number 6350. There are two ladder bars. 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
Pevsner, N, Bradley, S, The Buildings of England: London 6 Westminster, (2003), 717-719
Pollard, N E, A Short History of Public Lighting in the City of Westminster in IPLE Lighting Journal, (March 1984), 53-58
Watson, I, Westminster and Pimlico Past, (1993), 42-43, 51-52

End of official list entry

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