Dolphin lamp standard

Dolphin lamp standards provide electric light along much of the Thames Embankment in London, United Kingdom. Two stylised dolphins or sturgeons writhe around the base of a standard lamp post, supporting a fluted column bearing electric lights in an opaque white globe, topped by a metal crown. Many of the lamps are mounted on granite plinths.

The lamp posts were designed by

Charles Henry Driver, architect of the Victoria Embankment wall and river stairs. They were based on statues of dolphins or fish with intertwined tails at the Fontana del Nettuno in the Piazza del Popolo

in Rome, which was constructed in 1822–23.

In the late 1860s, the London

Coalbrookdale Company; and a more restrained classical design by Joseph Bazalgette decorated with lion's feet, inspired by classical tripods

, and modelled by S. Burnett.

Vulliamy had become superintending architect to the Metropolitan Board of Works in March 1861, and he also designed benches for the embankments with cast iron ends in the form of sphinxes and camels, inspired by

Cleopatra's Needle

. Bazalgette was the Board's chief engineer.

Vulliamy's lamp design was the most popular, and examples of his design dominate the

gas lights by 1884. They were converted back to electricity in 1900. Many now have a Grade II listing

.

Further dolphin lamp posts were added on the north and south banks of the Thames in 1977, to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of

Queen Elizabeth II

.

Yablochkov candles on the Victoria Embankment, December 1878, alternating with the original gas standards to show the difference
Dolphin lamp post on the Albert Embankment, on the south side of the Thames, between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge
Dolphin lamp post on the Albert Embankment, between Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge
Dolphin lamp posts near Vauxhall Bridge
Bazalgette lamp post on Chelsea Embankment

References

Dolphin lampposts, London Details
Representing the nation: the Thames Embankment lamps, Rag-picking history
Here be Dolphins (or Sturgeons), Footprints of London
Iron, Ornament and Architecture in Victorian Britain: Myth and Modernity, Excess and Enchantment,
ISBN 1472418980
, p. 85–89

Historic England. "RIVER WALL WITH 36 LAMP STANDARDS BETWEEN LAMBETH BRIDGE AND WESTMINSTER BRIDGE (1080565)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 May 2015. (dolphins)
Historic England. "EMBANKMENT RIVER WALL, STAIRS AND LAMP STANDARDS, VICTORIA EMBANKMENT SW1 (1237712)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 May 2015. (dolphin)
Historic England. "EMBANKMENT WALL WITH CAST IRON LAMP STANDARDS, VICTORIA EMBANKMENT EC4 (1358921)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 May 2015. (fish)
Historic England. "RIVER WALL WITH 28 LAMP STANDARDS FROM LAMBETH BRIDGE TO WEST OF ALEMBIC HOUSE, ALBERT EMBANKMENT SE1 (1358189)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 May 2015. (fish)
Historic England. "LAMP STANDARD IN GARDEN EAST OF ALBERT BRIDGE, CHELSEA EMBANKMENT SW3 (1294182)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 May 2015. (cornucopiae) (cornucopiae)
Historic England. "THE EMBANKMENT FROM BATTERSEA BRIDGE TO A POINT OPPOSITE THE SOUTHWESTERN CORNER OF THE ROYAL HOSPITAL GROUNDS, CHELSEA EMBANKMENT SW3 (1294183)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 May 2015. (lion's feet)
Historic England. "THIRTY-FOUR CATENARY LAMP STANDARDS (1392513)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 May 2015. (history of lighting)