9404-03 Historical Landmarks - the two Street Lights currently located at 833 Northside Blvd.

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STREET LIGHTS AT 833 NORTHSIDE BOULEVARD HISTORICAL CONTEXT These two lamp posts and street lights are believed to be designed by George Cutter, a lighting designer and manufacturer of great local significance at about the period, in the late 1920s, that this neighborhood, the Sunnymeade Third Addition to the City of South Bend, was developed and the houses built. Presently, the Westinghouse Corp. holds many of the patents, and retains the engineering drawings, for many of the Cutter Lighting Co. lights once maid in South Bend. However, we are not aware of these particular lights being in production currently, nor of there being plans to reintroduce them. These lights differ from most of the period, because most were designed for optimal pedestrian use, and not for lighting the broader areas of parking lots, since pazking lots were a far less common element of city land use, in the 1920s. They are not only attractive in themselves; they are also highly interesting, in that they show the transitional period of street lighting, from being pedestrian-oriented, and less bright, to the present automobile drive and parking lot orientation. They retain the decorative elements of the earlier era, while they are a very early example of the height and scale of public light fixture common now. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRII'TION These streetlights aze ornate cast iron, hollow for carrying their electrical wiring, and including a cast iron base, pole, arm, and brace. They have octagonal glass-paned metal lanterns at the top, with incandescent bulbs behind frosted glass. They are substantially taller than the typical streetlight of the era, being approximately 8 feet tall, as appropriate serve vehicular traffic, when most lights were still mainly serving pedestrians. RECOMMENDATION These lampposts and lights should be recommended to the Common Council for designation as Local Landmarks. They meet three criteria: 1) embodiment of elements of architectural design, detail, material, or craftsmanship which represent an architectural chazacteristic or innovation; 2) suitability for preservation; 3) identification with the life of a person or persons of historical significance. As to the first criterium: They embody distinctive elements of the transitional period between hand craftsmanship, and modern machine casting, and, likewise, a transitional period in the purpose and primary use of street lighting. Also, they aze unusually beautiful and highly detailed, especially for industrial area lighting. As to the second criterium, the lampposts are in excellent condition, having not deteriorated to any noticeable degree at all in the last seventy or eighty years.