As the Gaslight Era started to wind down at the end on the 19th century, when electricity was coming online, lighting fixture manufacturers were faced with a unique challenge. Electric lighting may have been safe, and it was certainly brighter than gas lighting, not to mention cleaner, but it wasn't yet reliable enough to stand on its own.
Manufactured and piped-in coal gas had evolved for a century, and it was reliable. So what could they do to help the private, public and commercial consumers who wanted the new electric lighting but who had to have reliable light? The solution was to design and craft fixtures that could burn the reliable gas and use the electricity when it was available. They made and sold dual-fuel fixtures.
One unique challenge came up with doing that with pendant lights, though. Chandeliers and wall sconces were either symmetrical or balanced, but many gas pendant lights weren't -- they often had one gas burner at the end of a shepherd's crook. So... they added the electric light across from it. Done.
The ingenuity that went into working through this transition is amazing. It's one thing to say "We can just make fixtures that can do both." It's a very different thing to actually design and build a fixture that can safely handle pressurized gas and live electricity at the same time. But they did it and, without that success, electric lighting might have had to wait a decade or two, until it could be made to work on its own. That would have required a massive amount of development money without a revenue stream, and would have made the work even harder.
During the roughly 30 years between the 1890s and the end of World War I, this is the way homes, offices, factories and shops were lighted. The power companies were able to recover a bit more of their costs every year and the transition had the financing to carry it forward. At the same time, the power companies were able to improve the reliability of the electric power until it was ready to take over.
Architecturally, this was also a time of transition. The transition from gas through gas-electric to electric lighting took place while housing styles went from the late Victorian through the Prairie, and into the early part of the Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, periods.
As a result, many of the original gas-electric pendant lights are elegant and ornate, in the Victorian style, and later ones are straightforward and plain in shape but have elegantly detailed joinery and glass work.
There are reproductions of gas-electric pendant lights being made today, and there are arerefurbished antique fixtures available too. Some companies specialize more in one or the other, and some do both. Some of the best of these, with links to the companies offering them, are listed here.
Manufactured and piped-in coal gas had evolved for a century, and it was reliable. So what could they do to help the private, public and commercial consumers who wanted the new electric lighting but who had to have reliable light? The solution was to design and craft fixtures that could burn the reliable gas and use the electricity when it was available. They made and sold dual-fuel fixtures.
One unique challenge came up with doing that with pendant lights, though. Chandeliers and wall sconces were either symmetrical or balanced, but many gas pendant lights weren't -- they often had one gas burner at the end of a shepherd's crook. So... they added the electric light across from it. Done.
The ingenuity that went into working through this transition is amazing. It's one thing to say "We can just make fixtures that can do both." It's a very different thing to actually design and build a fixture that can safely handle pressurized gas and live electricity at the same time. But they did it and, without that success, electric lighting might have had to wait a decade or two, until it could be made to work on its own. That would have required a massive amount of development money without a revenue stream, and would have made the work even harder.
During the roughly 30 years between the 1890s and the end of World War I, this is the way homes, offices, factories and shops were lighted. The power companies were able to recover a bit more of their costs every year and the transition had the financing to carry it forward. At the same time, the power companies were able to improve the reliability of the electric power until it was ready to take over.
Architecturally, this was also a time of transition. The transition from gas through gas-electric to electric lighting took place while housing styles went from the late Victorian through the Prairie, and into the early part of the Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, periods.
As a result, many of the original gas-electric pendant lights are elegant and ornate, in the Victorian style, and later ones are straightforward and plain in shape but have elegantly detailed joinery and glass work.
There are reproductions of gas-electric pendant lights being made today, and there are arerefurbished antique fixtures available too. Some companies specialize more in one or the other, and some do both. Some of the best of these, with links to the companies offering them, are listed here.
1. Lexington Gas-Electric Pendant With 2 Lights
This Lexington fixture from House of Antique Hardware is both a classic late Victorian design and a classic gas-electric fixture, with one gas bowl up and one electric shade down. It even has the valve handle for the gas at the bottom. It's a reproduction and all-electric, of course, but very well done.More »2. Mock's Crest
Oh my. I can just see three or four of these Mock's Crest pendants from Rejuvenation Lighting & House Parts in a barber shop around 1900, can't you? They've nailed this one, I think, and the pull chain for the electric light plus the valve control for the gas is the final touch.More »3. Gas Electric Sheffield
It may be stretching it a bit to call a two-bowl, two-shade fixture a pendant light, but I found this Sheffield fixture from Revival Lighting so attractive that I couldn't resist including it. Besides, I think it's also a stretch to call it a chandelier. Either way, this one resonates with Mission design.More »
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