Let there be light

Before electric lighting became common around 1900, light was provided free of charge by the sun, and at night by candle, lamp, or other flame. Anything which could extend the reach of the sun's free and safe light to interior spaces would make that space more useful and valuable. Prism glass is architectural glass used to redirect sunlight to interior spaces through refraction and reflection.

Left: Martin Place; Right: Mark Foys

Banks of prism glass came to be known as vault lights, aka sidewalk lights or pavement lights. They're those glass chunks set into old pavements to let light into vaults and basements below. Prisms were used instead of flat glass to disperse the light, diffusing it over a large area; plain flat glass would simply form a bright spot on the floor below, not providing much useful general lighting.

Left: George St portico of GPO; Right: diagram from Glassian

They're usually purple, but aqua and clear are known. Purple glass was originally clear; manganese added as a decolourizer slowly turns purple after years of UV exposure from sunlight. In the UK. pavement lights were originally set in iron frames, often marked with the name of the foundry rather than the glassmaker. Later replacements are set in concrete and steel which is the style common in the USA.


In Sydney, I have identified installations from:

B C Plummer $ Co., Sydney
Leopold Barnett & Co. Ltd
Hayward Brothers, UK
St Pancras Ironwork Co., London

Go see for yourself. They are scattered up the eastern side of George St, along the northern side of Martin Place between George & Pitt, along Mark Foys Elizabeth Street frontage, and along the northern side of Oxford Street. They are probably elsewhere, too. Their use declined as electric light became cheaper and better, and by the 1930s were on their way out. Now, they are endangered relics.


I am indebted to The Glassian site for the technical text of this post.