A working gas lamp in Dean Trench Street, SW1. Photo by Belgravia antiques dealer Timothy Langston.
Westminster City Council recently partially U-turned on its plans to convert gas lamps to LED and said it would retain 174 of the lamps. However, the future of a further 94 was unclear.
Now Westminster has told The London Gasketeers if some, or all, of these 94 achieve listed status then they too could be saved from electrification.
Antiquarian book dealer Tim Bryars and art and antiques specialist Luke Honey set up The London Gasketeers and are now calling on others in the trade to help.
Interested parties can help by finding old photos or postcards showing the lamps and assist in cataloguing the lamps to help the listing applications.
The London Gasketeers will then collate the applications and submit them to Historic England.
Bryars said: “If any friendly ATG readers, who are experienced cataloguers, could get in touch and offer their services it would help tremendously.”
One of the dealers who have already worked with Bryars and Honey is Timothy Langston.
The London Gasketeers has asked people to get in touch via its Instagram account @thelondongasketeers
Updates on the cause have been covered in ATG Nos 2570, 2528 and 2564.
The group has also recently been made aware that alongside Westminster’s plans, the Royal Parks has also looked at electrifying its historic lamps.
Bryars added: “The Royal Parks have extremely rare gas lamps some of which were made especially for the parks such as the Hyde Park Globe. Changing the lights would fundamentally change the character of these listed landscapes.”
A Royal Parks spokesperson said: “Gas lamps have been a feature of the Royal Parks since the early 19th century. We have no current plans to remove historic lampstands, some of which are illuminated by gas and others by electricity. We do however consider our carbon footprint and the environmental impact in all that we do. For that reason, we keep the use of gas in these circumstances under review.”
Follow the campaign via Twitter at @LondonGasketeer and Instagram @thelondongasketeers
