Palmerston Boulevard - The Palmerston Lamps

The Palmerston Lamps

On June 20, 1973, Toronto City Council added the Palmerston Gates and Lights to the City's Heritage Properties Inventory. Nevertheless, in November 2003, city officials proposed replacing the original lamps with aluminum replicas. Residents of the area opposed the move and in January 2004 City Council voted to keeping the original lights.

During Mayor David Miller's December 2, 2003 inaugural speech he spoke of the lamps when he said: "There is no reason, for instance, that we should not preserve the century-old, cast-iron street lamps on Palmerston Boulevard - those lamps are about the history of this city, they are about beauty in public spaces. The passion with which the residents of the Palmerston neighbourhood defend the original lamps is an example of the powerful, physical connection we feel to our neighbourhoods."

By December 2005, the city had refurbished and repainted most of the original lights. However, the Palmerston Area Residents Association noted that the refurbished lights have polycarbonate globes rather than the original glass globes; they also have metal-halide lights rather than the original 100 watt incandescent bulbs.

The lamps, known as 'single pole-top lamps' or 'light pillars' were common in North America by the 1920s. Palmerston is one of the few streets in Toronto that has kept its original lamps. Identical lamps on Chestnut Park in Rosedale were replaced in 2002. This style of lighting was designed to light a path for pedestrians, as automobiles had not come into common use. The current luminance of the street is several times higher than the original and a light refractor around the bulbs reflects light downward, causing the top of the globes to appear darkened at night.