Dublin Street Lighting

Fantastic post Graham – a lot of effort was put in there. Thanks.

You inspired me to go rooting for some of my Dublin pictures. I hope you don’t mind if post them up.

Bank Of Ireland Horse lamp.. any info on these fellas?

O’Connell Bridge

Temple Bar – any info on this nice lamp?

O’Connell Bridge.

St. Stephens Green

South King St. – shamrock lamps.

South Ann St. – Odd orb lamps

Upper Mount St. (Some have you will have seen this pic before.)

RE: THE SILVER REPRODUCTION LAMPS

@Phil wrote:

To replace [the Art Deco] lamps with reproduction ‘heritage’ lamps displays a very warped sense of history

@Graham Hickey wrote:

On one level it is warped indeed, but I think it is important to note that these silver lampposts are much more than just heritage pieces of furniture: they are as much a part of Dublin as red telephone boxes are to London. And I presume that in some areas of that city brand new boxes have also been installed over the years in places where needed not because they’re olde worlde, but because they embody the city in a manner like nothing else.

Likewise in Dublin, in fairness to the City Council, the erection of these lampposts in appropriate places is generally executed in this spirit rather than in that of a yearning for the days of yore as is generally the case with pastiche concoctions.

I hope it is ok to cross-quote into this thread (for fear of quoting out-of-context, the original posts are here: https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?p=33946#post33946 ). Since they make up such a heavy proportion of the city centre’s lamp stock, I think it’s probably best to talk about the silver repros in a dedicated Lamp Standards thread.

There are two basic types of repro lamp in use in the city. The first, and most heavily used, is quite a flimsy and, in my opinion, poorly-detailed historic-style lamp. It is found on: Winetavern Street, the Quays (excluding 6 beautiful original shamrocks outside the Four Courts), Stoney Batter, North King Street (part of), Parnell Street (part of), Summerhill, Capel Street (north end), Abbey Street Lower, Mayor Street (most of) & Commons Street in the Docklands, Fleet Street (painted blue), Ship Street (part of, painted black) Sth. Gt. George’s Street, Aungier Street, Wexford Street, Camden Street, Heytesbury Street, New Street, Dean Street, Clanbrassil Street, Harcourt Street, Ely Place and Herbert Street (the last three streets have some originals as well).

I can’t agree about the validity of these, Graham. I think there is something sick about smothering so many important city centre streets with what is a fairly cheap and nasty piece of false history.

Then there is the other, more substantial and less-used type, which is a fairly accurate replica of probably the most common genuine historic Dublin lamp standard (apparently dating to 1900-30 and found extensively throughout the North and South Georgian cores). It has a stout, deeply moulded base & ornate head. They are quite an impressive replica and are sometimes hard to tell from the originals, but the giveaway is the column]http://img226.echo.cx/img226/7108/reproductraditlamps1a4dr.jpg[/IMG]

Silver repros on the Quays

@Graham Hickey wrote:

That is one comprehensive listing of locations 🙂

It’s easy by bike 🙂 .

Agreed about the proportion of the lamps & the Quays. There are some even greater absurdities in terms of proportion and relating to the street]really[/I] want to see any more of the (better quality) silver lamps, Graham. A lot survive in the 2 Georgian areas – I think it should be left at that. I take your point about the historic environment of St. Stephen’s Green. But to be honest, I would rather see the existing ‘60s/’70s curving lamps left – they have an attractive simplicity about them….I just can’t take any more fussy historic reproduction in the city!!

As far as I have been able to glean, the planning / architects section of the Council are not consulted in relation to removal / insertion of lamps on the city’s streets (unless of course it is a specific, coordinated scheme like O’Cll Street). This appals me!! It seems the Public Lighting section just go and do what they want….you have to ask would the city be so riddled with nasty repros otherwise?

Of the two original types, I think of the stout, plinth-like based one as the ‘male’, and the tapered-base one with stud detailing & shamrock in the centre of the head as more ‘feminine’. Yeah, they’re situated alongside the Four Courts – respite from the flimsies on the rest of the Quays! (I think it’s the stout, plinth-based ones (in repro form) that are outside the Custom House).

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This is an example of what results when you have the brainless blanket installation of repros on city centre streets, without thinking about scale and spacing: two tall lamps inappropriately shoved up close to each other on adjoining streets & so at different angles (in an important location). I know there was a lot of street furniture around in past times, but you’d never see something like this:

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I think these lamps at Guinness’s (from the An Taisce report ‘Dublinspirations’) are an excellent example of the options available other than repro:

How the CC resisted putting in the standard skinny heritage repros in there in that historic and heavily-touristed location, I don’t know. But apparently those lamps at Guinness’s were planned & designed by the CC Lighting section … and how well they complement the surrounding circa 1900 industrial architecture!.…so lads, more of this approach please & less of the blanket ‘heritage’ approach!

That’s extraordinary that the planning section of the CC aren’t involved in post selection or preservation

The remarkable thing is that seemingly all other items of the city’s historic street furniture – stone & cast iron bollards, stone paving & setts, coal hole covers etc. – are listed for protection in the development plan….but not lamp standards 😮 (An T have asked the CC to come up with a policy for lamp standards that would protect remaining originals, encourage good contemp design & restrict use of historic reproduction).

That Irish Eyes site you linked Graham is hilarious 😀 ……..pure paddywhackery! ………but at least they managed to snap an original circa 1900 lamp standard lurking on Beresford Place and not a modern replica around the corner on Custom House Quay!

Just to add to the pictorial thesis.. here’s a fine picture of our ‘brown, arched, double-headed aggregate concrete lampposts’ on O’Connell St. (1950s)

Another picture I took the other day on College Green:

Some lamps in Clontarf and Rathmines are unique – they were commissioned for their respective townships when there were autonomous from Dublin Corporation.

New lamps on O’Connell Street – vile.

Leeson Park once had the same lighting as Cowper Road, it looked great as the light was distributed from the centre of the road which cut down black spots dramatically.

Any chance of a poll on favourite Irish light flitting once the poll on Dublin Bridges is finished?

The rubbish that lines the quays has alweays been a pet hate of mine. I got a glimpse of these additions in front of the Civic Offices. It seems the Quays are being treated to a repro refit. Any thoughts?

Seems so. Sorry my picture is not any clearer…camera phone.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

Which is why it is so very strange in light of this attention to detail (and lots more) that Jordan decided to merge the two streets opposite the GPO together into an imaginary street – Talville Row as it were 😀
You don’t want to see the stills of that, they’re too embarrassing….

As I read your post that was all I could think of… poetic license taken to extremes! 🙂

My minds still boggled that they can’t even be arsed to put the same colour temperature bulbs in the mutti headed fittings on the bridge, it’s a disgrace 😡

They lost a lot of credential in Michael Collins by messing around with the places so much, esp. putting the GPO at the end of a street :rolleyes: . That would even strike people as wrong who don’t really look at the city.

I imagine the 1903 post used in the film is a real one & not a replica.

The lighting on the bridges generally is pretty ropey, its a bit of a bug-bear of mine as I’d love to get a crack at lighting one properly, the’re fabulous structures and could look so good if a bit of thought and artistry was put into them.

Admittedly the colour temperature thing could be seen as picky, but O’connel bridge is one of the citys landmarks and I thing desrves that extra care and attention, to my mind it just makes it look shoddy.

There’s examples of a lot of the old lamps in Archbishop Ryan Park (Merrion Square). They don’t seem to be in any particular order, nor is there any description given. Nice all the same though.

This image highlights the relationship between the scale of the posts and the buildings on the Southside of Fitzwilliam square. The traffic signs are not welcome.

Graham,

Its always a pleasure to read this thread – particularly with all of the period photos which you uploaded; I note that the thread title appropriatey has a lit bulb as the accompanying icon 😀

However I don’t know if I agree with your last comment as to “those flippin signs are tacked onto so many of these posts”; it would seem to me that this is probably the better practice than the more frequent one-pole-per-sign/ light/ camera that is done all around Dublin.

Take the junction on the south side of O’Donovan Rossa Bridge, opposite the Four Courts; between only the four corners of the junction, there are approx 18 poles holding lights and signs, and of course no attempt at consolidation. Poles stand side by side with all most military dignity and precision, each one bearing a singular sign or item as if it were their duty……And you have to ask yourself; “are the poles invading, or do they just multiply at night?”

:p

I like the idea of the black poles around the Squares I think that the railings would kill most of the effect and give a good contrast to the signs making them clearer to drivers.

I like the idea of the black poles around the Squares I think that the railings would kill most of the effect and give a good contrast to the signs making them clearer to drivers.

You will find an unusual point of view about signage, on this link:

https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=3896&page=2&pp=25

What are all of the signs stuck in the ground, doing on Grafton St., anyhow?

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=663

Street Lighting from Belgium pic attached. To be honest, when you think about ‘street lighting’ you don’t always have to imagine this thing stuck on the top of a very large pole – but that is the cliche that most of us have stuck in our heads unfortunately.

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=876

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=879

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=880

If the series ‘Behind the Hall Door’ is available on DVD, it would be about as good a starting point as any for the design of street lighting, as part of the urban space. In lighting interiors, the ‘Behind the Hall Door’ teams, went to pains in several of their episodes, to demonstrate how diverse lighting actually is, and what you can do with it, how many different things, lighting can actually be. I mean, this picture demostrates the approach where you stick everything on some kind of cantilevered pole object, and most of the time, it just contributes to dead space, in urban areas, which are already too conjested and unattractive.

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=662

Why do you need those large protection bollards on Grafton St., anyhow? Here is just another simple example where lighting is used to turn a potentially disasterous utility kind of truck ramp, into an attractive looking piece of urban furniture.

https://archiseek.com/content/attachment.php?attachmentid=881

Even if lighting from on top of a pole, is a good way to provide basic levels of illumination to an urban space, there is still no need to go overboard on the design and embellishment of those poles. I think that some urban spaces here in Dublin could benefit from less ‘flowerly’ and visual loud lighting poles. That is why I tend to like the ones in the Belgian town picture above.

Brian O’ Hanlon.

They’re not originals they only went in a few years back when the CC had a fit of installing ‘heritage’ lighting on medians.. Nice though. Pity there’s only a couple of them.

OK, so technically it’s not a street, but at least we managed to avoid putting lights on a stick on a stick, and with a mixture of optics managed to highlight the building as well as wash the cportyard (tho the eagle eyed amongst you will notice from the “blob” of light in the bottom left that “someone” managed to put the wrong optical arrangement in one of the fittings ! (this has since been rectified)

That is an interesting image plug, would you consider having a look at the Liffey bridges thread in the polls section?

This image of the double lamp standard at Fenian St is interesting, I find it rare to find an aspect similar to this one with the post so well framed by the building behind.

What a place to put bike stands

Hello everyone. Well i just came across this website by mistake and wow its blown me away. Just to let you know who I am. Myself and my dad, David are responsible for alot of the lighting fixtures you are chatting about on your message board. Our jobs include all the gas lanterns in the phoenix park, parkgate entrance, grafton street, henry street, talbot street, dublin castle, city hall, o connell bridge, and many other places around the city. We build all our lanterns by hand and its mainly divided between copper and brass lanterns. The silver lanterns you refer to are also ours! not all of them, but we do manufacture them alot for ireland and the uk. If anyone would like to know anything about our lanterns or pictures i would be delighted. I have thousands of pictures of our work around Ireland. We have just completed manufacturing lanterns for all our garda stations. Ok nice to see all your posts on the board.

Regards
Eric

Yeah grahm we sure do. The lanterns pictured in grafton street our our design along with the garda lanterns and the castle lanterns which can be seen in the courtyard of Dublin castle.

Thanks Thormond, there’s a “polls” section ???

sorry, found it.

I love this lamp thread.

When I was in Barcelona there a few weeks ago some of Gaudi’s hanging street lamps reminded me of the early 20th century lamps in Dublin.

This one I snapped close to Gaudi’s La Pedrera.

The architecture in Barcelona would make you sick. Notice its football like globe 🙂 This is a shot of a 3 globe lamp although, the globes are identical city-wide.

I totally agree with you, Graham, about the level of detail in the Micheal Collins film. They certainly made an effort.

Yes. After he graduated from college his first commission was to design and build the street lamps you see in Barcelona today. It’s possible that it’s some sort of shatter proofing wire.. just a thought.

Some great lamps in Barcelona….here’s another just for pig (cast) iron:

Graham, hope you don’t mind that I stray off from Dublin for a bit. I couldn’t resist posting up some of my other lamp shots. 🙂 I’m sure you’ll like them.

Gaudi’s first ever municipal commision. The fabulous lanterns in Plaça Reial.

Look at those evil heads. These are the lamps outside Government Buildings in Plaça Sant Jaume.

You call that a lamp? This is a lamp! Have you ever seen anything like it?

@Graham Hickey wrote:

😀

Yikes! Drool or what! 🙂

Indeed! 🙂

These lamps below are standard all around the city but they vary slightly depending on where you are.
These ones below are outside the government buildings. They are well looked after, in fact most of them look brand new. They are adorned with the city’s coat of arms (vertical stripes for Catalonia) topped with the King’s crown.

Here is a different version of the lamp. Oddly, some of the crown prongs the lamps appear warped and bent. I don’t know if this is weathering or perhaps Gaudi gave them his organic treatment. 🙂 I really don’t think these are his lamps though.

This Chinese lamp belongs to the former umbrella shop on La Rambla. I can’t find much info on it unfortunately but the shop owner was obviously not short of cash at the time.
Look at his fierce fangs and fiery beard, his sharp claws gripping the bamboo. The crafting on the bamboo is spectacular also.

Anyway, that’s me all out of Barcelona lamps!

@Graham Hickey wrote:

1870s
To start, these small gas-powered column lanterns were used to light O&#8217]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/Dublin1/1870s.jpg[/IMG]

Close up:

Among the other places where the 1870s lamps appeared were on the two arched-back bridges flanking the Four Courts: O’Donovan Rossa Bridge (seen here circa 1900) and Father Mathew Bridge.

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In the early years of the 20th century, the single heads were replaced with these great looking double heads, seen here on Father Mathew Bridge in the 1950s….

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….and here on O’Donovan Rossa Bridge in 1922.
The two bridges at the Four Courts seem to have been the only place in the city that these particular double heads were used (special treatment for the special building).

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But, being the great pioneers in conservation of the historic urban environment that we are, what do we do with these lovely lamps? Yes, we remove them (in about 1970) and put them (one of them) in the city lamp “museum” in the park in Merrion Square, to complement the “fussy municipal flower beds” and “tree plantings commemorating minor dignitaries” 😀 as planner Fergal McCabe so aptly put it recently.

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. .

And finally, a comparison of the 1950s picture with the same view today. The corner building in the ’50s pic was demolished in 1983 to create a slip lane for traffic turning left from Bridge Street onto the Quays :rolleyes: , destroying the enclosure of the bridge.

Good finds there, Devin. Look at how uncluttered and clean the city looked back then 🙁

There are some taller street ones in there as well – ones that should never have been removed. The whole concept is so dodgy, isn’t it? – to paraphrase Joni Mitchell “we take all the lamps and put ‘em in a lamp museum, then charge all the people a dollar and a half just to see ‘em”! (well not quite). The surviving genuine historic street lamp standards in the city have basically been reduced to two types; the silver ‘feminine’ shamrock heads & the ‘masculine’ stout bases, with a few stragglers like some swan necks in the north & south inner suburbs, and a few shorter posts there as well.

By ridiculous do you mean the head being too big for the post Graham? Yeah they were a small post but I think they looked great on the bridge with the double heads! True, full size ones on the bridges would be so wrong – except in the case of some of the larger bridges (e.g. the cool-looking black modern lamps on Grattan Bridge).

For the last 20 years at least, the mock-Victorian gaslamp has been a staple of suburban shopping centre landscaping, regional town regeneration, dickieing-up of villages etc etc. (smug, smug, smug… 😀 )

Have to say I thought that was an excellent piece of historic/modern street furniture juxtaposition; the minimalist black lamps being placed in front of (but not too close to) the ornate seahorse lamps. This was subsequently ruined on the east side when the fridges were put between the modern & old lamps…….more reason to remove the damn things!!!

Yeah, it’s such a jumble isn’t it.. We’ll stick this bit here & we’ll stick that bit there…..that park encapsulates “Pat Liddy Dublin” for me.

I’d say when the vast majority of them were taken up in the late ’70s they were dumped or destroyed, because very few cared about things like that then. But I’d really like to know what happened to the 2 or 3 that were inexcusably removed (from the last surviving group of them) just a couple of years ago on College Street – as noted by Phil – & replaced with heritage reproductions.

Will stick this, one of the 6 remaining, here (pic has appeared before):

I’d say that most of them ended up in landfill unfortunately; I’ve seen quite a few corporation iron posts put into driveways on large one-offs over the years. I’ve never seen one concrete post anywhere than in operation. I very much doubt many of them were even taken out of the ground intact which really is a pity.

Was in Belfast yesteday, and i thought i would catch a snap of these for the record – standard lamps. Must say, I think their street seats (black metal grid style) are superior – more comfortable and perfectly functional. H

If “Those lamps” are what I think they are, they have an internal baffle that reflects light down and brings upward light polution in line with reccomendations from the dark sky association.

I’m sure there a shonky versions without the baffle, but setting aside the light polution factor, there are standards to be followed for light levels in pedestrian areas, and if, as a lighting designer you’re trying to adhere to these standards, the last thing you want is for all your light to be shooting upwards. So choosing the version with the baffle may be nore exspensive in the short term, but you need less fittings, therefore you’re more energy efficiant.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Originally posted by Graham Hickey (as file)
. . .

We’ve established that the magnificent 1930s concrete Art Deco lamps which once lined (primarily) the main streets of what is now the O’Connell Street IAP area were removed wholesale in the late-’70s, except for a cluster around College Street / D’Olier Street, and, scandalously, that several more were removed within the last five years: the two seen on College Street outside the now Wesin Hotel in the top left picture, which were replaced with ‘heritage reproduction’ (the top right picture shows the heritage repros being put in) – a piece of official cultural vandalism – and two more on O’Connell Bridge, one of which is seen in the above picture (the other having been in the same position on the other side of the bridge).

I think it is reasonable to suggest that the two on O’Connell Bridge that had survived up to this time had lost their context; they were just two leftovers at the south end of the bridge and did not relate to anything else in the vicinity. Given this, the obvious thing to do was to carefully lift and relocate them so as to consolidate the surviving cluster on College Street / D’Olier Street, where they looked so good next to the stone and brick buildings, NOT simply remove and/or destroy (?) them.

What happened to these lamps removed in recent years? It’s our city – we have a right to know. If anyone in lighting (Plug? Eric Woods? or anyone else) knows or could find out what happened to them, or indeed the bulk removal of 25 yrs ago, it would be very helpful.

I recall seeing the lamp heads, three if not four, for sale at a stand in Mother Redcap’s “antique” market back in the early eighties. What surprisesd me was how large they were. The casings were copper, although somewhat tarnished,and the glass opaque and yellowish. Not the kind of thing that might have ended up in a bedsit (remember them?) off the South Circular Road. That crowd went for the smelly “fir ag obair” lights. As for the standards,alas, methinks they got ground up.

I think the Globe Bar on S G Georges St have a couple of the lanterns

We’ve established that the magnificent 1930s concrete Art Deco lamps which once lined (primarily) the main streets of what is now the O’Connell Street IAP area were removed wholesale in the late-’70s, except for a cluster around College Street / D’Olier Street, and, scandalously, that several more were removed within the last five years: the two seen on College Street outside the now Wesin Hotel in the top left picture, which were replaced with ‘heritage reproduction’ (the top right picture shows the heritage repros being put in) – a piece of official cultural vandalism – and two more on O’Connell Bridge, one of which is seen in the above picture (the other having been in the same position on the other side of the bridge).

I think it is reasonable to suggest that the two on O’Connell Bridge that had survived up to this time had lost their context; they were just two leftovers at the south end of the bridge and did not relate to anything else in the vicinity. Given this, the obvious thing to do was to carefully lift and relocate them so as to consolidate the surviving cluster on College Street / D’Olier Street, where they looked so good next to the stone and brick buildings, NOT simply remove and/or destroy (?) them.

Recently I have noticed that the few remaining ones of these lamps are in poor repair. There is selophane wrapped around most of them, as the concrete is starting to crumble. These lamps are an authentic example of Dublin’s heritage, and it would be a pure scandal to loose them. Does anyone know exactly who to contact in Dublin City Council about them?

In fairness to them it looks like there is plans to fix them at some stage, it just seems that the work needs to be done as a matter of urgency.

The head of the public lighting department I guess. Be on the website. The heritage officer might also be a good person to get onside.

The concrete lamps are certainly getting a fair oul’ innings on this thread (and rightly so!!).

I’ve seen that wear Phil. The marks of buses and other vehicles grazing against them can be seen all over the lower parts of them. Well at least by talking about them in this thread we are hopefully drawing attention to their plight!

How depressing if all the old removed ones have been ground as lunasa says! 🙁

Here’s another ’90s view of one of the (scandalously recently) removed ones on College Street and its ‘heritage’ replacement (not to mention the building behind!).

As a street lighting historian and collector, I’ve found this thread particularly fascinating. Luckily I discovered this discussion before a short break in Dublin, so I was able to take several pictures of the examples in Merrion Square Park and pay my respect to the remaining concrete columns in the city.

I’ve since reviewed various publications and books devoted to street lighting and discovered that the O’Connell installation (that being the concrete columns) was mentioned several times. Even Waldram, who was probably the most respected street lighting engineer and researcher in the 1930s through to the 1960s, mentioned them favourably in his cornerstone book of 1951.

By road building standards, O’Connell Street is extremely wide. This causes problems with standard street lighting, which assumes a set road width (Normal street lighting lanterns are designed to cast light up and down the road’s axis). A custom built, or a novel approach, is required, and this is what the authorities set out to do in the late 1930s.

Looking at the old pictures of O’Connell Street, it was first lit with gas, then arc lamp, and finally incandescent electric bulb. In 1938, this often-altered installation was deemed inadequate and Mr. F X Algar, who was the head of the Lighting Section of the Irish Electricity Board, was asked to design a replacement installation.

His scheme was novel in many ways. Firstly, he specified concrete columns and brackets, which were only just being used for street lighting (the first columns in the UK being manufactured by Concrete Utilities and installed in Liverpool in 1932). The style of the bulky column, and the art-deco bracket, is an excellent example of these early concrete columns. Originally the surface would have been polished to a smooth finish, but the weathering of the last 60 years has reduced the surface back to the original, rough concrete mix.

Secondly, the large copper and brass lanterns were fitted with specialised refractor rings, which directed the light flux out towards the centre of the street, rather than along the street’s axis. Therefore to create a uniformly illuminated road surface, the lanterns had to be clustered closer together than the normal spacing; hence the requirement for a double bracket, arranged in-line with the road’s axis.

The lanterns were fitted with 1500W GLS lamps (which is a normal tungsten bulb). Additionally, the panes of the lantern were made of rimpled glass to diffuse the light and reduce glare from this intense point source.

Each complete lighting unit weighed 2 tons.

I’ve not been able to identify the manufacturers of either the columns or lanterns, but would suggest Concrete Utilities for the former, and perhaps BLEECO for the later.

When erected and completed in 1938, it was regarded as the best street lighting system in Ireland. By 1951, it was still of suitable merit that Waldram was singing its praises, dedicating a section of his book to this particular scheme.

Only subtle alterations were made during its lifetime. In 1963, the lanterns were converted to 700W high pressure mercury bulbs which gave off a more bluish-white light. Discharge lighting being far more effective than tungsten, it saved the Dublin authorities £10 per lantern per year, although there was a slight decrease in the installation’s efficiency. (This was due to the refractors being designed for the point source of a tungsten bulb and not the vertical linear source of a mercury discharge bulb).

At some point in the mid 1960s, the lighting deemed inadequate along the centre of the carriageway, and post-top GEC lanterns were erected along the centre of the street to boost the lighting.

The death knell occurred in 1972 when the entire installation was obsoleted. The lighting around the city had been upgraded to modern standards, and the 1930s technology of the main streets was looking very dim in comparison. Dublin’s lighting engineers visited Edinburgh to view the new wall-mounted lighting on Princess Street, and influenced by its clean, uncluttered design, decided on a similar, sterile design for O’Connell street. So the O’Connell concrete columns were ripped up in 1972, replaced by wall mounted GEC lanterns which burned pairs of high-pressure sodium lanterns.

In general, the early designed concrete columns and brackets have survived the longest, largely down to their sheer bulk, quality manufacturing and careful installation. By the 1940s and 1950s, spinning and prestressing of concrete columns allowed the manufacturers to build slender and thin columns. Coupled with sloppy installation by local authorities who skimped on sealing joints, many columns and brackets now show signs of water ingress i.e. cracking, spalling, and in some cases, collapse.

For this reason, concrete column manufacture for street lighting ceased in the early 1990s, and local authorities in the UK are currently embarking on schemes to remove as many of them as quickly as possible.

So, it’s a small miracle that some of the old 1938 Dublin columns still exist!

Unfortunately, it looks like the remaining brackets are succumbing to cracking and spalling. This would account for the sellophane wrapped around some of the brackets and columns; they’re literally starting to fall apart. This does not bode well, as I don’t know of any concrete column which has been repaired. I expect they’ll be declared dangerous and eventually removed.

A trip to the park was illuminating (ha!) because it revealed part of Dublin’s street lighting heritage. Many of the brackets and lanterns in the park were manufactured in the 1930s through to the 1950s by British Thompson Houston (BTH) and the Brighton Lighting And Electrical Engineering Company (BLEECO). I’ve taken several pictures of the street lights and and identified several examples on my website:
http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting/install/dublin1/index.htm

I hope the above was of interest!

All the best,
Simon Cornwell
http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting

Great information there. All very interesting.

Yes, thank you very much for that. It is very interesting to know something about the history of those lights.

Yeah thanks from me too, Simon.

I am fascinated now as to what the original column finish would’ve looked like “polished” and “smooth” as you say, now that they are down to the rough mix, as seen in the picture below (a crop from a pic I posted earlier).

It’s amazing that most or all of the original mottled or “rimpled” (a new word for me!) glass seems to survive in the few remaining Dublin lamps.

There are examples on odd streets here and there around Dublin of the slightly later, more slender colums you refer to (but still having an art deco element to their design). I will try’n get some pictures.

There is a single armed concrete lamp surviving on Baggot St. Bridge; all the others on Baggot St. seem to have had the arms replaced with metal ones. There are a few simpler single armed ones along South Richmond St, as well.

There are also a few single armed ones along the canal between Baggot Street and Leeson Street (City Centre side). There is also a few smaller examples with metal tops on Dartmouth Square and a few fully intact ones in the streets off London Bridge Road near Ringsend and Sandymount.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

Brilliant stuff Simon – thank you for that information.

No problems. Glad it was of interest.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

So is it likely they were made in the UK? And what caused the shift to the use of concrete in the 1930s do you know?

Previous to the 1938 installation, I expect all of Dublin’s cast iron columns and brackets were cast and produced by local foundries. The old gas lanterns were probably produced by local firms as well, although specialist gas lantern manufacturers were appearing by the mid 1850s.

The idea of using concrete for columns probably originated from the USA, where the first concrete street lighting columns appeared in the 1900s. Concrete was touted as a solution to all the problems with cast iron and/or steel: it didn’t rust, it didn’t require maintenance (i.e. a costly and timely repainting rota) and it has double the life of an iron or steel column.

It’s acceptance was slow, probably due to the columns and brackets being bulky. But with the steel shortages of the 1940s and 1950s, concrete was used more and more frequently.

Dublin was certainly a very early adopter of concrete. In 1938, there would’ve only been a handful of manufuacturers who could’ve made them: take your pick from Concrete Utilities (who definitely produced lots of special designs for particular towns and cities), Stanton and/or REVO. I might be able to identify the manufacturer from the door at the base of the column, as many used their own locking mechanisms. If someone could photograph the door on one of the remaining Dublin columns then I’ll try and identify the maker.

(I saw some other concrete columns in Dublin and noted they were by Concrete Utilities and Stanton. So, again, a mixture of suppliers was used over time).

@Graham Hickey wrote:

I’d often wondered about those refractor rings you mention inside the lamps…

…can you explain what you said about directing the light out into the street a little more? Do you mean it directed the light out in all directions in a 360 degree manner, or just specifically out to the roadway?
Certainly the appeal of these lamps for me has always been the multi-directional light emitted – very efficient.

By suspending a bare light over the road, you’d achieve a circular distribution of light around the column. In some cases, this was desired, and bare bulbs with little or no optical control were used. There’s some examples of those in the park, the BTH Parish lanterns being cases in point, having just a spun steel enameled over reflector to reflect light above the lamp back down onto the road.

But the idea of street lighting is to uniformally light the entire street surface so that any obstacles (such as cars, pedestrians etc.) would be shown in high constrast. (A principle called silhouette lighting, which started to gain ground in the 1910s and 1920s). Therefore lanterns were designed to cast their flux up-and-down the road’s axis, and by positioning the columns correctly, the whole road could be evenly illuminated.

Diagrams of the principle is shown here:
http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting/manufact/esla/cat/cat1930s-1/intro.htm

This was achieved in practise by using mirrored lanterns or glass refractors. See the bottom two diagrams on this page:
http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting/manufact/bleeco/cat/cat1934-1/5.htm

The two plan candle-power distribution curves show how the light is directed by the refractor ring. If lanterns were strung across the centre of the carriageway, then the 180 degree refractor ring would be used]www.simoncornwell.com/lighting[/url]

There was a big foundry at Hammond Lane, in the Docklands – a lot of the Dublin lamps were produced there as far as I know.

@Graham Hickey wrote:

It does – thanks 🙂
Indeed even on the refractor in image above you can see a variation in the ripples of the glass – don’t know if that accounts for anything.

Yes, the refractor won’t have a uniform pattern, and you can clearly see where the grooves are different on the glass to change, or concentrate the beam. Additionally the refractor can only fit into the lantern one way, and the lantern itself will have “Road Side” and “Path Side” written on it. This stops errant street lighting engineers screwing on the lanterns the wrong way, and causing the main beam to be shone straight through someone’s window. (In theory).

@Graham Hickey wrote:

As for the doors Simon, I could be wrong but it would appear
that the 1938s have replacement doors today – nasty unfinished
steel yokes. Saying that, it’s possible they are the orginals – would
they have been painted to begin with?

They won’t have been painted, and will look like a thin piece of slightly rusty metal. Additionally you might be lucky and find the maker’s name or initails in the concrete around the base.

>Now that you describe them as arc lamps, it is instantly
>apparent why the 1892 set were so short-lived!
Now, they’re classic arc lamps 🙂

The canopies are extremely tall to house both the clockwork gear and extremely long carbons. As the arc burnt away the carbon, the clockwork would gradually move the carbon down, keeping the arc going. In practise, they probably needed some maintenance every day. I’m sure the street lighting engineers loved them. 🙂

Looking at some of the other pictures in this thread, I’m at a loss over the 1920-23 street light. The long canopy is definitely a characteristic of the 1920s, but the bowl and the weird appendage below it are most odd. It reminds me of “dim out” lighting in London, installed in the early 1940s, to provide very low lighting during the Blitz. So I’m confused as to why a similar looking lantern appeared in Dublin twenty years previously.

All the best,
Simon

En Route to An Trá in the heat last week, I noticed a new historic-style cast iron lamp scheme has been installed along the Clontarf seafront (the one where, bizarrely, you are not allowed to cycle). As a historic style, the design of the lamp is actually quite good and it appears to be well cast.

However it is quite a full-blooded Victorian design, and I’m not sure if it was the right thing to put here, beside the various concrete shelters along the seafront, all of which are strongly of 20th century ‘international style’ in design (see pictures).

I’m not saying it was the wrong thing to do, but there should have been some consultation for something like this, to see what kind of a consensus there would be about the design of a new lamp scheme in this location. I don’t remember hearing a thing about it ….
.

Its good to see this lighting scheme finally installed. It has been on the cards for a number of years now. A managment plan was drawn up for the Clontarf Promenade and I think other elements such as improved planting are also planned. The lighting scheme is the same as that installed at Sandymount, no? They are quite attractive lights although I can see your point Devin about the contrast between the lamps design and the shelters. Some attention to the pockmarked wall would be welcome as well. This must have had a railings along its length at some stage,

And you can actually cycle on a dedicated cycle path here…al

It looks like a new lighting scheme is going up through Phibsboro too, around the junction with the NCR. Don’t have photos but the light fittings are a very peculiar wide cone shape mounted on very high poles. Battleship grey in colour. Haven’t seen anything else like them in the city and don’t find them particularly attractive. The old poles and lights are still in place too so its a bit of a mess at the moment.

The last bastion of our concrete bretheren:

In and around Suburban Harold’s Cross, these Concrete lamposts survive relatively intact..

As a matter of interest,They’re being gradually removed from The Grand Canal between Baggot/Leeson st, also between the Bleeding Horse and Portobello, where evidence of Cracking similar to Graham’s shots is also visible.

Oh yeah and Graham, that was really lucky finding the intact concrete door 🙂 , ALL of the ones I came across had been crudely replaced with said metal plates.

In the winter light, A scaled down sentry guards a lonely street in Rathmines.

I absolutely LOVE these ones, they’re very elegant and chic, hopefully these will never go the way of the concrete. I think they speak classic, turn of the century Dublin as much as the next (lamp)post. This one is on Harrington St, just by portobello there.

I spent a few days in Berlin last month and took the opportunity to visit Karl Marx Allee which was basically the GDRs showcase street to rival the Ku’damm in West Berlin. Its a very impressive show of the Soviet wedding-cake style architecture and quite attractive, while at the same time being monumentalist and monolithic. Anyhow, the street is lines with four rows of very attractive lamp standards after the fashion of our iconic city centre standards. Lovely pieces: two copper lanterns, same concrete and a small bank of tiling at the base to set off the lamp. Sadly many of them are irretrievably damaged and no effort seems to have been made to to restore and retain these lovely lamps. The Berlin government is broke and Karl Marx Allee seems to suffer from it associations with the former communist state (theres lots of anti-communist graffiti and vadalism about).

Some images of the lamps

Anyhow, Karl Marx Allee is well worth checking out if you get a chance.

Its na bearbug of mine for a while now….take a walk through the city centre by night and keep your eyes open.

Feature lighting….its become so common recently that most developments or improvements include an element of lighting. Spots, LEDs, trendy blue mini lights. Dublin’s bridges are a great example, the median and plaza on O’Connell Street, Docklands.

Trouble is they take a bit of maintenance and thats never been a forte in this city. I think Millenium Brodge is a really good illustration. Most of the lighting is out of action. Ha’penny Bridge the same (needs a wash too).

Whats to be done. Is this type of lighting just a waste of money?

@GrahamH wrote:

Just as this thread is raised, it ought to be noted that the pair of 1930s concrete lampposts outside the former Irish Times terrace on D’Olier Street have just been taken out. What’s the likelihood of them being restored and reinstated? There are now four left in the entire city.

I may be proven wrong (and I hope I am), but I would say that is them gone! This would be a real pity. Perhaps it is time to get in touch with the City Council again. It has been a few years since I last contacted them on this matter!:)

IMO they dont really sit well along the street. I would rather see matching silver columns. The concrete ones should be moved and restore and used as part of a unified lighting scheme.

I am not sure street lighting necessarily needs to be uniform, but I see where you are coming from. I think certain features, if deemed important enough, should be retained in situ instead of being shifted around the place to suit contemporary tastes and fashions. Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that these were once the standard light for the city centre. The replacement of the examples outside The Westin removed the last trace of their impact in a group (Devin had before/after photos on this thread before I think).

In the end, it all depends on whether or not people actually care enough about them I suppose. In my view they are important features of 20th Century street furniture, which should be retained where ever possible and in their original position, but that is just me.

Does anyone else think that the silver lamposts would look better painted black – or is it just me?

protected poles is where its at 🙂

great thread worth the trawl

kinsella: agreed; how about dark green as a compromise?

would tend to agree, dark green can look great, wouldn’t mind black too much either though.

These were installed this year on Kenilworth Square East – pretty decent overall, quite like them.

However, they replaced this fella – still in place on the west side of the square and a good number still around Dublin 6 in general.

I understand there was a need to improve the lighting with taller standard lamps, but really they could have retained & refurbished the originals and moved them to the park side of the street where they would be well suited to pavement lighting for pedestrians (which is still fairly dark given the overhang of trees etc.)

What happens to these old lamp standards when they’re removed !??

Just on the concrete posts – Kenilworth Park through to Kenilworth Square & Kenilworth Road is the longest single stretch i know of where concrete lamposts still line the roadway, and on both sides for much of the route.

@GrahamH wrote:

Do you remember if there were old posts along here Peter before these went in? Perhaps (hopefully) they replaced steel posts? Certainly I remember them on the other sides, as your picture proves.

I’m certain Graham that the same posts on the west side of the square also lined the east & that these new ones were installed to replace them. It was actually an issue during the last election (not the preservation of the existing, but their replacement to improve lighting around the square. The ususal election blurb from Lucinda Creighton etc. indicated that they are also to be installed on the west side, i presume funding is now an issue.

I’ll have a look again today to see if any remnants remain. I can’t understand why historic posts are removed, sure there was a need to improve lighting in this area but no need to remove the originals – as i mentioned earlier, they would have been perfect had they been used to illuminate the pavement on the park side, ideal height & scale for a pedestrian environment.

@GrahamH wrote:

And sadly the concretes on Kenilworth Road are already disappearing. I had a picture of a new galvanised steel pole going in beside a concrete post, but have lost it since.

I think the pole your thinking of is visible in the shot below – it was installed a year or two ago, i was hoping it might be for a traffic camera but its set too far back from the junction – thankfully nothing has happened since, just another random pole erected for no apparent reason, and as yet not others have been added on kenilworth road.

I’ve noticed the new additions around Crumlin, again difficult to see the need, there is some merit in distinguishing the village environment from the rest of the area but this can be achieved by sensitive standard lamp type additions at pedestrian level, no need to replace unique historic posts that often defined an area with generic glavanised stuff that homogenises every urban area !!!

@GrahamH wrote:

Extremely nice and well detailed, but criminal if they are replacing historic posts, for which there is absolutely no justification. Do you remember if there were old posts along here Peter before these went in? Perhaps (hopefully) they replaced steel posts?

I had a look again today … just four historic posts line the east side of the square (intact), from memory a similar number lined the west side which would tally with the number of points on the west pavement where fresh cement has been laid to cover where the old posts once stood.

I’m sure that both the new & old posts stood together for quite some time until the old ones were removed, virtual earth indicates as much too (though it is a stretch !)

All of which again asks the question, why remove historic posts that define the character of areas & what happens to them when they are removed ?

@Peter Fitz wrote:

All of which again asks the question, why remove historic posts that define the character of areas & what happens to them when they are removed ?

more candidates for the Merrion Square lighting musuem?

The shamrock poles all over Dublin got nominated for protected Structure listing today and the request form has been submitted to Dublin City Council.
DCC have there work cut out fingers crossed…:o

The shamrock poles all over Dublin got nominated for protected Structure listing today and the request form has been submitted to Dublin City Council.
DCC have there work cut out fingers crossed…

I wonder will that stop them putting (commercial) ‘cultural’ advertising banners on them?

I spotted one similar to this on the new nangor road dated 1912 that somehow managed to stay standing for the last 96 years and survive a few bouts of road widening and the addition of two bus lanes – its a full post, no arm though, i’ll get a pic when i get a chance. There’s another on the naas road between newlands and the red cow, impossible to catch a date though with everyone driving up your ass :rolleyes:

Shame to lose this thread….

I noticed the detailing on the new heritage lamp erected on the island at College Green as part of the recent bus gate “improvements”. It has the Dublin 1988 logo on it…its obviously a reused lampstandard from “prejuvenated” O’Connell Street. It probably suits the spot but could something have been done about the ugly industrial park lighting in front of Trinity and along Grafton Street as well?

The way Carlisle bridge is going its only going to get worse vents bus stop and less people crossing… new clear hikort option…

dublin south county council now has a mapped report a fault system for any of south dublins busybodies,

http://connect.southdublin.ie/connect/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=249
for reporting broken lights etc

can’t find the traffic poles thread

Let’s count telegraph poles, says councillor
http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/lets-count-telegraph-poles-says-councillor-1936124.html

taxpayers money, that phrase

This has been a great thread, I hope people are still interested.

Dublin City Council make lofty claims about protection of architectural heritage, when evidently it did not occur to them that street furniture and in particular street lighting are a very important part of that remit. It has been confirmed to me that all of the 1930s lamp posts have been ‘thrown out’.

The Merrion Square installation was done in the 1980s by a lighting technician from the Lighting Department, i.e., someone with zero conservation training, who took a passing interest.

This is why you end up with the 30s lanterns on the 1903 brackets. This is why 30s lamps are removed from the streets because they don’t fit in with someone’s personal idea of ‘history’.

I expect someone who makes decisions about the landscape of a European capital city to be trained in conservation or history.

There is evidently no conservation officer working with the Lighting Division. I will be writing to the Heritage Office of Dublin City Council, advising them of my concern and disdain. Please do so too, if you care that your heritage is going to landfill. If people who care say nothing, the people who don’t care get away with everything.

Please write to them!

Dublin City Council
Heritage Office
Block 3, Floor 3
Civic Offices
Dublin 8

Tel: (01) 222 3824
Fax: (01) 222 2271
Email: heritage@dublincity.ie

Straying a wee bit off topic,I`m keen to find out if DCC have some form of Blackout policy in force for Westmoreland Street…or is it an attempt to take the spotlight(!!) off the somewhat inapropriate siting of the Weekend Portaloo`s ….:rolleyes:

The Black Hole of Calcutta must surely have been a brighter prospect that the College Green end of Westmoreland Street !! 😮

Graham – another view of those concrete posts on O’Connell Street – from the new Edwin Smith book

I spotted one of these (headless) 1912 bad boys today…amazed it has survived in this industrial location…and I had a nice chat with the relevant dept in South Dublin cc about a lick of paint…

View Larger Map

I’ve spotted that one myself Smithfield Resi … how it survived several bouts of road widening is beyond me, perhaps that says more about South Dublin County Council than anything else (the Nangor road was previously the main road from Dublin to Newcastle)…another from 1912 has survived on the median of the Naas road between the Red Cow & Newlands Cross.

From The Antique Pavement by Derry O’Connell 1975

From The Antique Pavement by Derry O’Connell 1975

From The Antique Pavement by Derry O’Connell 1975

From The Antique Pavement by Derry O’Connell 1975

A quick perambulation along a thoroughly blacked-out Westmoreland St last evening revealed only a single functioning Public Light fitting on the East-Side of the street.

This shining beacon is tacked on to the facade of the,now empty,former EBS building.

Of itself it`s a fairly brutal fitting as it certainly sits like a zit on the end of a nose,however it is at least working.

The City Council policy for the remainder of that side appears to revolve around the Westin Hotel being good enough to put some candles in their windows as there are NO other public lighting fixtures in place.

The West-Side fares somewhat better with at least two fittings functional,however their output is diminished considerably by the surrounding dense foilage.

What a thoroughly depressing night-time vista this once rather splendind street now presents as it spurs citizens and visitors onto racing through it,lest they experience a mischief.

All the LAP`s and assorted high-sounding plans programmes and intentions do not count for diddley-squat if the Civic Authority do not possess the simple damn interest to take a walk around their own City now and then….after dark that is 😡

I see that the old art deco lampstands on D’Olier Street have been permanently removed and replaced with swan-neck replicas. The new lamps at least match the others on the street but I cant help wondering where the old lampstands have ended up. The “new” lamps have been expertly installed….in lumps of tarmac, however I presume this is because a repaving of this section of the street is being considered in the near future.

It’s now reached the stage where I’m actively considering petioning Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of our nearest neighbours,to see if She may take the Westmoreland St Blackout case on.

I suspect that Dublin City Council’s Public Lighting Section may be fearful of breaching the blackout regulations and allowing the Street to become a target for Boche Bombers or such fiendish types.

I drop in here on an irregular basis,but I retain the hope that someday I shall be able to post a “First Cuckoo of Spring” message and refer in glowing terms to the City Councils recruitment of a Lamplighter and a supply of rushes which could be placed in some framework,perhaps attached to the Portaloos to allow the peasantry to see where to pee,so to speak.

Westmoreland St,up to last week remains in a sea of deep darkness once the Westin turn off their own lights.
Not only is it a depressing sight,but equally it is a Dangerous one,particularly for pedestrians attempting to cross it`s splendid wide aspect.

Incredibly,there are lamp units (albeit horrible but functional industrial units) affixed to frontages but which have not been functional for years,yes YEARS.

With 2016 rapidly approaching,I’m wondering if the street was better lit a century ago than it is today ?

I listen on a regular basis to impressively titled Public Representatives and the likes telling us all about the Knowledge Based Economy and our incredible potential to be innovative and attract Googles,Facebooks,and EBays to our City……perhaps the last-named one might be a source of cheap, working,light-units which some passing African Missionaries might endevour to connect up for us in our hour/century of need. :crazy:

brilliant work Alex

DCC are currently too busy beavering away on the Village Design Statement for Sandymount (Apparently the benches are too clincial and planters too plastic.. quote unquote) to be worried about anything as irrelevant as lighting , cleaning or general maintence in the city centre.

@Alek Smart wrote:

I listen on a regular basis to impressively titled Public Representatives and the likes telling us all about the Knowledge Based Economy and our incredible potential to be innovative and attract Googles,Facebooks,and EBays to our City……perhaps the last-named one might be a source of cheap, working,light-units which some passing African Missionaries might endevour to connect up for us in our hour/century of need. :crazy:

Exactly, we get caught up with creating the internet capital of Europe here in Dublin but can miss out on the basics. I’d love to have a budget of about a €100 million to go round fixing up the footpaths, sorting out streetlighting, cleaning up facades, repainting road markings and removing unnecessary poles. Simple minor works like this would dramatically improve the urban fabric of Dublin and make it a much more livable and attractive place.

The recession is having a terrible impact on the quality of street lighting and the like here in Dublin. Cheap and garish are the order of the day and Dublin City Council barely lifts a finger to do anything about it.

Saw this http://pix.ie/bohoe/2313362/size/800 on Twitter, apparently only happened this morning – presumably one less old street light in Dublin.

I note that following their Britannic Majesties departure from our shores Westmoreland Street continues to remain in Stephen Hawking mode…It appears Dublin City Council,the City Manager and in particular the Public Lighting Manager are lifelong fans of the Black-Hole theory….I’d appreciate it somewhat more if they subscribed to the Big-Bang theory instead.

And just to underline the cack-handedness of what purports to be a modern EU Capital City’ s Admintration,the wholesale deforestation of College Green for Mr Barrack H Obama’s speech from the dock,has resulted in the Westmoreland St syndrome spreading to College Green…yes folks stygian blackness from Grafton St to Church lane……mind you it could also be a cunning plan to force the BoI to surrender their Portico at a bit of an oul haircut….I’m all in favour of inviting Fidel Castro to speak next…..I can’t see him making things any worse than this gang of twittery larks have managed to do….Is it any wonder the country is fc’uk`d

Still driving you mad Alek? I am sure you’ve written all those emails and letters and been told its all in hand. The wildly optimistic corner of my mind hopes that since Sierra…sorry DCC are taking so long to put back the lamps on College Green that perhaps we are to see a step up in civic design at this location.

Meanwhile Roads are on the march again. After the astonishing mess that was made of Parnell Square West (cultural hub of north city) the team turn their attention to another high priority route…eh Sackville Place. Not on everyones list to be sure but important none the less. DCC Roads have taken up all the flagstones of their “asset” and replaced with cement, literally smothering the granite kerb stones. Its the ugliest thing you have seen…since the last Roads initiative. Public Realm Strategy anyone?

BTW,I was advised that the overgrown trees on Westmoreland Street will be prunned…in tandem with Metro North works

More repro standards on College Green. It must be said that improved lighting here is very much needed…its very dark at night. Looks like they need to do a bit each Sunday due to traffic volumes….so it may be a while before we see the finished scheme. I hope the take the awful standards at Grafton Street down while they are at it – 1970s industrial park chic.

I’m now reduced to a forlorn hope that some Candlestick Maker can be found to sponsor a few burning rushes along Westmoreland St,or failing that we could appeal to the reps of the late U.S General William Westmoreland for “assistance” in deposing the current City Governance regime ?

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

Graham – another view of those concrete posts on O’Connell Street – from the new Edwin Smith book

Are they the same lights as the one which currently illuminates one of the bus stops on Pearse St.? They look very similar to it.

I’ve started so I’ll finish….eh not quite.

Pearse Street – there are 7 lamps here…and this is but one section of the street. Works took place in 2007.

Bride Street – think this work just recently started but it begs the question: why start another scheme while there are so many unfinished schemes.

Marlborough Street

College Green

Below is a part of a DCC response made to me when I queried a number of half completed lighting schemes in prominent parts of the city. It might interest others:

The majority of the outstanding work involved will have to be carried out on Sundays as they are main traffic routes. Dublin City Council has plans in place to complete these projects but is however experiencing difficulty in getting them finished for the following reasons:

· Lack of staff due to the embargo on employment

· The difficulty of getting the staff that are available to work every Sunday

· The retirement of some key staff

· The pressure of completing other projects

· The fact that Dublin City Council has to find funding for these projects when it did not expect to have to fund them

Much of the lost time in completing the projects, to date, arose because Dublin City Council was pursuing the contractors involved in the various developments to deliver on their commitment. Unfortunately Dublin City Council now has to accept that these contractors are no longer in a position to deliver the works required and the City Council is left to deal with the problems. Dublin City Council will work on completing these projects this year but realistically some of the projects are unlikely to be completed until next year.

Please see below for information on the individual public lighting schemes you have queried:

College Green

The Historic Paving Stones are currently in storage and will be re-laid within the coming weeks as work at ground level is almost complete. Works to be completed by end September 2012

Pearse Street

For various reasons it has been difficult to close off this project.

At Trinity College Dublin Science Gallery Dublin City Council went in to install the columns on the into town side after the civil contractor had completed his works. Unfortunately Dublin City Council could only install two of the four columns (these are the two columns with no lanterns on them) because some of the ducts that were to have been installed by the contractor could not be found and the electrical supply was not provided. Efforts were made to contact the contractor without success. Temporary lighting was installed on the far side of the street to maintain a good lighting level on the street.

At some of the junctions along Pearse Street some existing columns still have to be removed. These were not removed at the time due to electrical supplies inside the columns being used by other utilities such as cameras, bollards, traffic light controllers, telemetry meter cabinets and so on.

East of the junction with Macken Street on the out of town side again (called Gallery Quay) Dublin City Council was unable to complete works because of missing or damaged ducts. Here an additional pole had to be installed to get an overhead supply to the 4 no. new lights along here. The contractor who carried out the ducting works, Pierse Contracting has since gone into liquidation.

Ringsend Village

Work originally began in Ringsend as part of a rejuvenation project including redesigning pavement layout and the provision of a complete new lighting installation. The responsibility for developing the plan was given to consultant architects and the contract was awarded to a contractor. These improvements were being funded by the DDDA.

The Contractors were responsible for installing the foundation bases, ducts, cable chambers as well as installing the new lighting system. The lighting columns chosen for Ringsend were rejected by the residents meaning the lighting installation could not proceed. Dublin City Council’s Lighting Division inherited several issues from the Contractor (including sourcing of suitable columns manufactured to fit the foundation bases already provided by the contractor).

A concerted effort was made in 2007 to complete the scheme. However, significant problems were encountered. These included: missing foundation bases, loose foundation bolts, misaligned bolts, several foundation bases missing bolts, damaged ducts and cables.

A Civil Contractor was working on correcting these issues with approximately €50,000 spent on correcting the workmanship of the Contractor. Unfortunately due to missing or damaged ducting and foundation bases Dublin City Council have only managed to complete 60% of the project.

Merrion Square

The lamp standards referred to in your e-mail are the inner steel cores of the replica columns. The outer embellishments which are an identical replica of the original lamp standards will be fitted by mid August 2012.

From Dublin Civic Trust

Historic Street Lighting – A Model for Dublin

A successful retrofitting of historic street lights with energy-efficient LEDs has been recently undertaken in the centre of the German city of Leipzig. The innovative project was spearheaded by Braun Lighting Solutions of Berlin and solid-state lighting experts Future Lighting Solutions, with the aim of renovating and making more efficient the host of historic Schinkel gas lamps that have been a feature of the historic city centre of Leipzig since the nineteenth century.

The challenge for the project engineers was to incorporate energy efficient LEDs into the historic lamps in a manner that replicated the appearance of the original clusters of gas mantles inside each lantern head, as well as maintaining the ambient warm glow of gas light that is a defining characteristic of the city centre after nightfall. The initial models for Braun’s trial were the last three original gas lamps in front of the famous St. Thomas Church, the home of Johann Sebastian Bach.

“In Leipzig, the LED technology of the future meets the past of city lights which are more than 150 years old,” said Andre Braun, CEO of Braun Lighting Solutions. “Our approach keeps the traditional form of the lamps but lets them shine in a new light through advanced LED technology. We have been able to deliver on the goals for energy efficiency and environmental protection at the same time as meeting the requirement to preserve a historical artefact.”

By equipping the 360 Schinkel lights around St. Thomas Church with the latest LUXEON® Rebel LEDs, the city can save €20,000 a year in energy costs. The LED lamps consume only 22W, by comparison with the 85W power consumption of the lamps they replace. This 73.3% reduction in the power load also reduces CO2 emissions by 60.8 tonnes per year. Thus, the project is an important contribution to the implementation of urban climate protection goals in Germany.

To achieve the effect of gas lighting, the original parts of the historic lamps were supplemented with a patent-pending technology that mimics the size and arrangement of the previous mantles. The four mantles were replaced by four LED modules covered by satined glass, giving the impression of glowing mantles suspended within the lamps. The difference between the LED lamps and the gas light originals can only be detected on close inspection. An elegant touch was the incorporation of a single 1.2W LED in the roof of each lamp to provide a subtle glow for the opal glass at the top of the unit. Future Lighting Solutions also managed the process of ensuring consistency in colour temperature across all of the hundreds of LEDS used in the sceheme.

A Model for Dublin?
The Trust believes this is the type of project that Dublin should be undertaking as part of its Draft Public Realm Strategy in partnership with the Lighting Department of Dublin City Council. There is a number of locations where such as world-class synergy of heritage conservation and cutting-edge technology should be utilised, including, for example, the re-erection of the original 84 historic oil lamps that once graced the railings of Mountjoy Square, through to reinstating the private lamps of many of the city’s Georgian streets, as has been successfully undertaken in Edinburgh. Dublin’s quays could also benefit from such unified treatment, as well as many of its smaller streets and lanes.

The Trust has also advocated the retention of the traditional pillar standards on Grafton Street as part of its proposed repaving plan, and retrofitting them with correctly designed, high quality historic Dublin lantern heads fitted with sparkling LEDs.

In spite of the widespread use of silver Scotch Standard lampposts on the city’s streets – many reproduction – extraordinarily, there are almost no enclaves of historic lighting left anywhere in Dublin. Recent attempts to replace lantern heads on St. Stephen’s Green and the Ha’penny Bridge have resulted in poor, factory-produced imitations that in no way accord with Georgian oil and Victorian gas lighting in the city, while historic lighting even outside public buildings leaves a lot to be desired. There is a sore need for a reassessment of Dublin city centre’s lighting needs and how the city can best present itself through informed lighting design as part of a high quality public realm. One option could be to undertake a short study of historic Dublin lamp types, and incorporate these into the palette of materials currently being composed by Dublin City Council as part of its upcoming Public Realm Strategy.

http://www.dublincivictrust.ie/news-entry.php?title=historic-street-lighting—a-model-for-dublin&post=1343924148

This is the kind of thing that really bugs me and makes me wonder about all that Grafton Street Quarter stuff I have been hearing so little of…

South King Street

While we’re on the subject of lampposts….
http://www.stoneybutter.com/project/play-stations/

7 years after it was started, the ‘new’ public lighting scheme on Pearse Street has finally been completed and the odd bod collection of old stuff removed. And despite earlier grumpy comments from me, the finish of the pavement looks well.

We’re making progress people…

No sign of the same for parts of historic granite on College Green though. That will have to wait until Luas CrossCity.

Hard to friggin believe that its over Three YEARS since I posted about the stygian blackness of Westmoreland Street ,It now WORSE than ever !……DCC’s long game is obviously working as it appear they are waiting on the Electric Tramway Company to light the place up….But perhaps I’m expecting a bit much from DCC….as the arrangements surrounding the Bus Diversions at Merrion Row quite clearly show…..The REAL power base now is obviously the Taxi Driving Fraternity…… :crazy:

we’ve run out of lightbulbs maybe? a few of them aul galvanised steel yokes that were put up in Coolock Industrial Estate should work a treat.

At this point in time,with the Darkness of Winter approaching (NOTE to DCC…Winter evenings = Darkness……Hint-Hint ? ) I would be satisfied with bunches of Burning Oil Soaked Rushes tied with wire and hung from some of the forest of poles used for every friggin purpose EXCEPT facilitating the Public’s safe passage into and out of the Portaloos …..If there are any Photo-Hogs on this forum,how about a Nightime Photo Montage of the West side of Westmoreland Street…the dark side between College Green and Fleet Street….?

So that crappy galvanised post that stood alone at the top of Kenilworth Square North for the last number of years was no accident and has been deemed an acceptable replacement for the entire stretch from the junction with Rathgar Avenue down to the end of Kenilworth Road.

20 or so of the brown aggregate concrete posts line the stretch right down to the end of Kenilworth Road, one of the longest remaining stretches that I am aware of, currently being ripped out and replaced with the lighting equivalent of a shopping trolley.

Dublin City Council’s ‘Odds n Ends’ Department (Lighting) strikes again. IMO THE worst department within the Council. Continuously wallows in mediocrity.

It looks like the shopping trolley treatment is being extended to take in Kenilworth park, Kenilworth Square North, Kenilworth Road & Grosvenor Road.

Most of the existing posts appear to be in very good condition. No doubt the council will argue that there were wiring difficulties internally, but surely some form of reconditioning was a viable option when set against the cost of a fresh install.

@StephenC wrote:

Dublin City Council’s ‘Odds n Ends’ Department (Lighting) strikes again. IMO THE worst department within the Council. Continuously wallows in mediocrity.

I rather fear,StephenC,that the Public Lighting section merely takes it’s lead from what purports to be Senior Administrators in Civic Offices.

As most compos-mentis users of Dublin as a functioning Capital City,will readily attest to,the recent activities (or lack of same) all point to a Senior Civic Management Team which has taken,lierally,to a windowless fallout shelter,from where it’s “Professionals” issue an ever increasing stream of manic instructions in the manner of May 1945 Berlin.

Just take a mid-evening ramble later on,around The Kildare St/Merrion Row/Stephens Green Luas BXD “Site” for a very significant underlining of whats missing “on the street”….it’s mainly down to a lack of INTEREST !!!! :thumbdown:

So the aforementioned ‘lighting scheme’ from Kenilworth Park – Kenilworth Road – Grosvenor Road is now complete it seems.

What we got is a lovely mish mash, you might even say an eclectic mix.

Entrance to Street

A few new posts, hewn from melted shopping trollies

And, ah lads I couldn’t be arsed with this anymore

Nice one DCC.

And good luck getting those tarmac patches filled in…

Not even an attempt to match lantern heads. Its really shocking. But people also need to demand better. Otherwise it is simply a case of engineers doing their worst with impunity.

If ever there was a case for Victorian reproduction this was it!

Its says it all when the 1940s/1950s product is actually more sympathetic to the Nineteenth Century streetscape.

C

My own humble 1930s Corporation Housing Scheme is now getting the loving attention of DCC Public Lighting – with predictable results. A number of these concrete standards are slated for removal…their filials the first things to go. Galvanised yokes to replace them. Assorted lampheads for variety.