I enjoy bringing life back to old pieces of cast iron. Here's my last project. Circa.1918 General Electric street lamp. 14 feet tall.
Thanks Midwinter. I initially wanted to just clean it up and keep the original color that was a tarnished green color. (like the Statue of Liberty color). The were just too many layers of silver, black and grey paint applied by the municiple maintenance crew over the years. I ended up completely disassembling, stripping, reclaimed hardware and glass, then using a sealable Primer paint that has the green tint of the original. (It looks white in the picture). The light fixture is a hammered bronze color that really pops in the sunlight. The fixture itself is over 30 inches. All new wiring was added using the existing light socket. New underground wiring and nice deep cement platform for stability. The plant hanger is not original and takes the place of a flag pole holder that we proudly utilize when needed. The light weighs about 200 lbs. and anchored with 8 inch cement anchors. I'm pretty sure it's windprooof. All in, I had about 90 hours in the project.
Beautiful!!! It's great people like you take this old, historic items and give them life again. The much younger generations haven't learned to appreciate them "yet"!
Did you get it for free from the town, or buy it from a salvage yard? How many were available, I guess one was enough for you! I don't blame you for not wanting to strip off all that paint. It looks nice, and is protected from the elements. I can't say I grew up on a street with antique streetlights, but as a kid I remember a softer glow than the orange sodium that's around now.
My family purchased some property in northern Wisconsin. The story I was told was the light was acquired by the former owners from the city when they put it new street lights. It was found laying on the ground adjacent to an abandoned house on the property. My family told me to get rid of it. Being a scrounger and history buff, I snapped it up. I remember laying it down in my boat to haul it 300 miles to my garage where it stood in the corner for 16 years until I finally "got around to it." I consider it one of my best "barn finds" to date.
Worthwhile, and rewarding no doubt.It’s always nice to see projects done properly. For many of us it’s an ugly ache whenever we look at our work that wasn’t done properly.
That is awesome! Some much of that old stuff was so well built, we may never see quality like that again.
Welcome to FHC. That is a beautiful piece of work you did. We love pics so feel free to show off your work.
