Forgotten Lampposts

Forgotten-NY.com is basically a website that is dedicated to places and objects in and around New York City that most tourists, and probably a lot of New Yorkers, do not know about. Fifth avenue is probably one of the most famous avenues in New York, it might even be the most famous. There is a part of this website that has a section dedicated to the different types of lamps you can find on this acclaimed avenue. The lampposts along 5th avenue all have different themes. on the lower part between Washington Square Park and to 23rd street there is the slotted lamppost. This type of lamppost which was introduced in the 1960s was designed by Donald Deskey.
Fifth avenue has the most dual masted lampposts (one light faces each side of the street) out of any North-South running street in New York City. In the 1920s until the 1940s the main lamppost that was used was called the Type 24M twin. These lampposts had very intricate designs on the bases and cast-iron designs going off of the posts out to the lamps. In 1985 5th avenue started to use a different type of lampposts which were very simple, unattractive lampposts with the lamp resembling a shoebox. Then in 1990 the Department of Transportation started to use “retro” to add to the character of the Avenue. One of the most popular lamps not only on Fifth Avenue but throughout New York City is what the website called “RoboLamps” and the first appeared on Fifth Avenue in 1992.
I think that the people who did this website did a section on the lamps of fifth avenue to show how much effort the City puts in to making the streets look nice even down to small details like what types of lamps they use. The different designs and styles of lamps show the various types of architectural styles that New York City has seen through the different eras. During artistic eras there were many lamps with scrolling cast iron on lamps and intricate engraving on the bases. During times when everything was sharp with edges and lines the lampposts reflected that with having sharp angles and lines as well. This part of the website was enlightening because you never really think this much work goes into what lamps people use in the City.