bldg. 51 museum's collection of 19th century electric sockets and incandscent light bulbs from historic chicago buildings

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This entry was posted on August 22 2022 by Eric

bldg. 51 museum's collection of early electric sockets and fixtures.

morris selz house (1883):

this unrestored morris selz house (1883) three-arm tubular brass wall sconce is quite possibly the earliest known surviving light fixture from an adler and sullivan commission. remarkably, two of the three edison sockets with direct-turn thumb switches, are completely intact.

the selz house was never connected to a power grid - instead, the power plant or generating engine was set up in the rear stable.

two of these fixtures were removed from the house before its demolition in 1967. the multi-light brass sconces were mounted in the house's light shaft, which extended the full height of the house with skylight on top. the windows surrounding the light shaft were leaded glass, so guests were not able to see the light shaft or the sconces.

the fixtures managed to survive until the house was demolished since they were hidden - out of sight, out of mind.

the other socket shown in the image gallery, was salvaged from the columbus memorial building (1893). like the selz, the sconce and socket are original to the building (demolished in 1959).

fixtures courtesy of bldg. 51 collection.

auditorium building (1889):

original 1889 auditorium theater edison keyless shell socket and light bulb discovered during restoration in 1967. the brass shell socket with original cloth cord retains traces of the original gilded finish. the round pine wood three-part base plate contains an original square nail used to mount the socket behind the decorative plaster.

the "long neck" incandescent edison light bulb with working carbon hairpin filament dates to the early 1890s.

chicago stock exchange (1894):

a total of 5,500 lamps were used to illuminate the interior spaces of the chicago stock exchange building, which was completed in 1894.

the lamps were supplied by the central electric company, which at the time was the exclusive western agent of western electric supply company, st. louis, mo. the edison screw base lamps were fabricated by the edison general electric company, harrison, nj.

the edison light bulb was improved upon, both in material and design, with modified changes being introduced nearly every year between the late 1880's and early 1890's. in 1893 a light bulb known as the "new type edison lamp" was introduced and stayed in production until 1900.