The Gas Lamps of Park Slope: A Surprisingly Short History

Those historic-seeming gas lamps? Maybe not so historic after all, reports DNAinfo’s Leslie Albrecht. Recently, a Berkeley Place homeowner asked Community Board 6 if he could install one outside his nearly 100-year-old brownstone. Because, you know, “old-world charm.” Except that technically, it isn’t:

“They’re not historic and they’re certainly not historically accurate,” said John Casson, a member of Park Slope Civic Council’s Landmarks Committee, who opposed the request for the new lamp. “A, They’re not authentic, B, they don’t give much light, and C, they waste energy. They just look silly.”

DNAinfo has more on the history of the lamps, which is a lot more interesting than you might think.