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Type 1BC Bishops Crook

Canal and Lafayette Streets, Manhattan

The Bishops Crook was one of the first modern lamppost designs, going up around 1900. The 1BC electrified posts, installed in the 1910s, paid subtle homage to the gas lamps that preceded them: they were designed with ladder rests, of the kind lamplighters would use on their morning and evening rounds. This charming ornamentation disappeared in later models. Only a handful remain, all in Lower Manhattan.