NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Gaslighting in America
A Guide for Historic Preservation
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PLATES
Fellows, Hoffman and Company chandelier illustrated as no. 103 in plate
39, 1857-1859. |
Plate 40 |
If one may judge from the lithographic illustrations
of the catalogue, this chandelier, shown in no. 103 on the preceding
plate, is as fine in quality and elaborate in design as any made by
Fellows, Hoffman and Company. The finish is dark bronze with gilded
accents. The forms are decidedly Neo-Rococo, with pronounced C-scrolls
on the branches. The vogue for figurines clustered about the stem
persisted to the end of the 1850s. The shape of the globes is
appropriate for the date of the fixture, as well as the etched arcade
motif. However, it was unusual to paint the main supporting pipe white
or any other color. Normally, it would have been brass pipe lacquered or
iron pipe masked by a lacquered brass sleeve. This fine Fellows and
Hoffman fixture now hangs in the library of Fountain Elms, an 1850 house
museum administered by the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica,
New York.
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Courtesy of Munson-Williams-Proctor
Institute, Utica, New York. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Gas pendants from the 1856 Starr, Fellows and Company catalogue. |
Plate 41 |
The reading pendants on this plate illustrate that
the "stands" attached to a chandelier by flexible tube were by no means
the only type of reading light in use during the 1850s. It may be
recalled that the lamp referred to in plate 32 was attached by rigid
brass tubing like that of which most of the pendants shown here are
made. The numbered "slides" were not water-sealed and had no
counterweights. Instead, the seal was maintained by the use of cork.
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Courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village,
Sturbridge, Massachusetts. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Brackets and hall pendants from the 1856 Starr, Fellows and Company
catalogue. |
Plate 42 |
The brackets shown here were designed to allow
flexible positioning of the light. All would swing left or right, and
several had two or three-sectioned jointed arms. No. 3 (upper middle)
had a universal joint at the juncture of the two sections to allow
adjustment to any angle. As noted in the discussion of plate 6, jointed
branches were often used on bedroom brackets to get light close to
mirrors.
The George Washington Whittemore House, formerly in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, had a hall pendant of the harp type somewhat
like no. 100. The shade of the Whittemore pendant was identical with
ones shown on Starr, Fellows and Company bracket no. 40 (not illustrated
here). However, attribution by shade design is not advisable as it is
probable that the shades were supplied by the glassmakers to various
manufacturers of gas fixtures rather than exclusively to one firm.
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Courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village,
Sturbridge, Massachusetts. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Various fixtures from Fellows, Hoffman and Company catalogue, 1857-1859. |
Plate 43 |
Fixtures nos. 1, 2, 6, and 240 were probably fixed
"pillars" rather than lamps or movable "stands." They look too unstable
to have served safely as lamps. The seated putto on the birdlike bracket
no. 80 (upper left) and his twins on bracket no. 259 (upper middle)
would not have had the approval of the critics writing in 1854, who
believed that "little figures perched just above the branches . . .
violate a fundamental law of decorative art, that all ornamentation
should rise out of construction and belong to it." [75] The unnumbered
bracket (top center) and nos. 261, 263 (lower center) all share a
lily-of-the-valley motif. The hall pendant no. 147 (lower right) and the
chandelier no. 100 (upper right) are designated in another place as new
designs. The latter is similar to no. 103, shown on plates 39 and 40.
Shades of the shape shown on nos. 80, 90, and 100 do not appear after
the 1850s. It may also be noted that no fixtures in the entire gas
section of the catalogue have the decorative chains that were so
commonly used during the 1840s.
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Courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village,
Sturbridge, Massachusetts. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Brass fittings from Starr, Fellows and Company catalogue, 1856. |
Plate 44 |
It is a safe assumption that any unrestored gas
fixtures having one or more of the parts shown here was made by Starr,
Fellows and Company or Fellows, Hoffman and Company. The use of parts
such as these was continued by most companies without change of design
(but with the addition of new designs) until the end of the gas era.
Although the use by each company of its own designs makes attribution
easier, it is not safe to attempt the dating of a given fixture by the
presence of a fitting.
This plate of fittings is accompanied in the
catalogue by a pedantic text:
Brass Gas Fittings. This designation is usually
understood to include all the parts and pieces, which go to 'make
up' a Gas Fixture; though in reality, it applies only to such joints and
connections as are used to hold the pieces together; as Stiff
Joints, Double Cocks, Bracket Cocks, Elbow Cocks, Straight Cocks, Pillar
Cocks, Swivel Cocks, Top Swings, Centre Swings, Nipples, Connection
Balls, Bushings, &c. The word Fittings should apply only to
such Joints, &c. as are tapped with iron thread; and a few samples
of these, and other kinds, are given on the following page [i.e., this
plate]. The Top Swings, it will be seen, are made with iron thread at
both ends, or iron at one, and brass thread at the other, as they are
used respectively for iron or brass pipe. Gas Fittings, proper,
are all tapped with iron thread; and all Joints, Swings, &c.,
with brass thread, belong to the Fixture department; but it is
difficult to keep up the distinction, in the absence of any arbitrary
rule to regulate the trade. Nor indeed is it necessary. . . .
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Courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village,
Sturbridge, Massachusetts. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Brackets from the Archer, Warner, Miskey and Company catalogue,
1857-1859. |
Plate 45 |
Another early major manufacturing firm was Archer and
Warner, whose history is far more complex than that of the Starr,
FellowsFellows, Hoffman firm. Founded in Philadelphia, the company
had opened a New York branch by 1854. The branch's subsequent history
diverged from that of the parent partnership on November 27, 1856, when
the original partnership was joined by William F. Miskey to form Archer,
Warner, Miskey and Company, a name and style retained until February 27,
1859. In that year, Ellis S. Archer left the company and went to New
York. The Philadelphia firm became Warner, Miskey and Merrill, with
Redwood F. Warner, William F. Miskey, and William O. B. Merrill as the
partners. In 1866 Warner left the firm and Benjamin Thackera joined it
to form Miskey, Merrill, and Thackera, a partnership that lasted until
1871. In 1872 Miskey and Merrill were no longer listed in the business
section of the Philadelphia directories, and Benjamin Thackera was head
of a new partnership. Some of Thackera's work will be discussed later.
[76] In the New York City 1854 directory the
firm was listed as Archer, Warner and Company. In 1858 the firm name was
the same, but James B. Peck was listed as a partner. From 1859 until
1863 the firm was Warner Peck and Company with Miskey, and Merrill as
partners. From 1863 through part of 1866, however, the firm operated
under the name and style of Warner, Miskey and Merrill; by 1867 no New
York listing appeared.
In the meantime, Archer had left Philadelphia and had
formed in New York in 1859 or 1860 his own firm: Archer, Pancoast and
Company. The original partners were Ellis S. Archer, George Pancoast,
Norman L. Archer, and Anson Archer. In 1861 the partners were listed as
Ellis S. and Norman L. Archer, Pancoast (New York), and William C.
Ellison (Philadelphia) with Joseph J. Hull as a special partner of
limited term. Archer, Pancoast and Company was styled the Archer and
Pancoast Manufacturing Company in 1870 and was listed until 1901. [77] Between 1857 and 1859 Archer, Warner, Miskey,
and Company commissioned the Philadelphia lithographer Peter S. Duval to
execute over 40 handsome color plates illustrating their wares. Although
the title of the resulting catalogue is Warner, Miskey and Merrill
Patterns, the ornamental border of each plate carries the older firm
name of "Archer, Warner, Miskey and Company."
All of the fixtures illustrated here (in plate 2 of
Patterns) are elaborate, and all except the Gothic bracket are
mid-century versions of the Rococo style. The colors represented are
bronze (light and dark brownish-green in the original tint) and gilt
(yellow and rust). Unfortunately, the prices pencilled throughout the
catalogue no longer apply. At least one example, no. 698, may have been
in stock for a number of years. As shown in the following plate, the
pattern of its Gothic branches may have been designed as early as
1845.
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Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, The Elisha Whittlesey Fund, 1958. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Archer and Warner Gothic chandelier. |
Plate 46 |
This Gothic chandelier was originally in the John J.
Brown House, built in 1845 in Portland, Maine. [78] Its branches are identical with those of the
bracket no. 698 on the preceding plate, confirming the attribution of
this chandelier, now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, to Archer and
Warner. Very few Gothic fixtures of the 1840s and 1850s appear to have
been made in America. This surviving example is indeed a rarity. Note
that the electrification of this fixture has been unfortunately
accomplished by running the wire outside the branches instead of through
them. It is admittedly more difficult to run wire through the rather
constricted interior of a cast two-mold branch, but the result is worth
the effort. Wire of small diameter can be chased through the curving and
constricted path by the use of ball chain. Only an experienced
electrician of demonstrated ability should be entrusted with this
skilled task.
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Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Purchase, 1967, Rogers Fund. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Brackets from the Archer, Warner, Miskey and Company catalogue,
1857-1859. |
Plate 47 |
The colors of this lithograph of three Archer, Warner
and Miskey brackets are two shades of brownish-green with highlights of
yellow with shadings in brown. Clearly, these represent bronze finish
with gilt accents. The brackets range from the lavish grape pattern one
at the top, priced at $32, to the modestly scaled and comparatively
simple example at the bottom, priced at $12 (cf., plates nos. 21, 22 and
23 of this report).
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Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, The Elisha Whittlesey Fund, 1958. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Rod-suspended chandeliers from the Archer, Warner, Miskey and Company
catalogue, 1857-1859. |
Plate 48 |
Archer, Warner, Miskey and Company was, like Starr,
Fellows and Company and other firms, engaged in producing fixtures of
the rod-suspended type so popular during the 1850s, as shown here and in
the catalogue page shown in plate 23. The rod-supported chandeliers of
this period seem invariably to have had figurines above their bowls.
Curiously, the three-light rod-suspended chandelier at the left (no.
4440) was more expensive ($25) than the four-light one (no. 4334, $18).
Perhaps the difference represented the higher value of the heavy bronze
branches of no. 4440 in comparison with the more ornate gilt branches on
no. 4334, possibly made of cast-iron or perhaps white metal. Note that
the putto on the right hand fixture holds an extra burner. The metal
tassel high above his head adds verisimilitude to the rope motif of the
stem and rods.
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Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, The Elisha Whittlesey Fund, 1958. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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Elaborate chandelier from the Archer, Warner, Miskey and Company
catalogue, 1857-1859. |
Plate 49 |
The style of this chandelier and of the previous
rod-supported fixtures represent an eclectic blend of Neo-Renaissance,
Neo-Baroque, and Neo-Rococo elements. This six-light example cost the
then not inconsiderable sum of $75 and is as elaborate in design, though
not as large, as any of the 1850s chandeliers made for domestic use. The
finish was green-bronze and gilt. In quality of materials and
workmanship, Archer and Warner and their rivals Cornelius and Baker led
the field.
. . . in 1848 Mr. Archer became associated in
partnership with Mr. Redwood F. Warner. Determining to place their house
on a level at least with the best in the United States, they saw that
this could be effected by merit alone; hence, their first effort was to
present in their department of Art, novelty of design combined with
superiority of finish and excellence of materials. Sensibly foreseeing
that the growing taste in this country required to be fed, they obtained
designers and modelers of the highest talents, to whom they paid liberal
salaries, and encouraged them in every way to produce graceful and
effective designs, for Lamps, Chandeliers, and Gas-fittings. No amount
of money was considered by them extravagant, if it secured a valuable
result. The consequence of this judiciously liberal expenditure soon
became manifest. From an ordinary firm, with a limited capital, doing a
moderate business, they sprang to a strong position among the first
houses, in their trade, in the United States. Their work is admitted by
all to be equal to that of any competitor [79]
. . . the manufacture of Bronzes . . . I find has assumed, in
Philadelphia, more imposing proportions, and a higher artistic
character, than it possesses anywhere else in the country. Everybody . .
. knows, of course, that the chandeliers, argands, and general
gas-fittings of Cornelius & Baker and Archer & Warner are the
only American articles of the kind which can sustain a comparison with
the goods imported from Paris. [80]
The standing of the firm founded by Ellis S. Archer
is attested by the fact that, although Cornelius and Baker were
commissioned to light the new Senate and House wings of the U.S.
Capitol, Archer, Warner and Miskey received the order to produce the
160-foot-long railings of the two Senate and two House private
staircases. These bronze 3-foot-high railings are composed of lavish
rinceaux, entwining figures of putti, deer, eagles, pigeons, and
serpents executed in full relief from designs by Constantino Brumidi
(1805-1880), the Capitol muralist. [81] The
brass hemispheres capping the newel posts of three of the four stairways
are inscribed "Warner, Miskey and Merrill/ Baudin, Artist/ Phil. 1859."
The fourth is date 1858. Edmond Baudin was obviously a skillful
sculptor, for whose services no amount of money was considered by them
extravagant.
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Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, The Elisha Whittlesey Fund, 1958. (click on image
for a PDF version)
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myers/plate5.htm
Last Updated: 30-Nov-2007
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