Product Reports
Lighting the Way
In architecture as in life, first impressions matter. The exterior lighting of a home is not merely a source of illumination, it’s also a glowing invitation to enter the premises.
And whether it’s gas, electric, incandescent, or LED, nothing says welcome better than a traditional-style fixture that lights up the night.
Today, there are a number of workshops and specialty companies that are keeping the classical flame alight. Here is a selection of firms that are prominent in the preservation field.
Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights
The company that invented the iconic Original French Quarter Lantern that’s ubiquitous in tens of thousands of homes and commercial buildings around the country, Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights designs and crafts fixtures to last a lifetime
“We consider our company to be a part of living history—retaining time-honored, old-world techniques and craftsmanship while simultaneously introducing the most innovative, efficient technology in the gaslighting industry—and offering lantern styles that range from traditional to modern,” says Drew Bevolo, the third-generation owner of the New Orleans-based company that was founded in 1945.
Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights, whose lanterns have been installed in all 50 states and in 47 countries, offers more than 500 light and bracket combinations from historically accurate to more streamlined, contemporary lanterns for modern architecture. It also does custom projects.
The fixtures feature the company’s patented gas-jet assembly and its signature oxidation that ages them 10 to 15 years so they blend in with other elements of the home and continue to develop a natural patina.
“Designed to burn around the clock, they are the most efficient gas lanterns on the market in natural gas and propane,” Bevolo says.
Bevolo’s four French Quarter showrooms include one with a workshop/museum where craftsmen can be seen handcrafting the signature lanterns.
Gas lighting, Bevolo says, will never go out of style. “It gives a mysterious, alluring atmosphere that is almost transcendent and exudes the feeling that one has stepped back in time.”
Grand Light
For nearly a century, Grand Light has been setting the standard for fine-quality handcrafted lighting fixtures made by artisans from around the world.
The Connecticut-based family-owned company, established in 1929, restores historic fixtures and manufactures custom lighting, offering retrofitted energy-efficient LED solutions.
“We pride ourselves on preserving the historic integrity of a fixture while also upgrading an existing lighting system with newer technology and brighter, more efficient lighting,” says Vice President Ryan Stockman. “Historic lighting fixtures existed before us and will remain long after, so it is quite an honor to have our artisans’ work immortalized.”
Lantern Masters
With collections exceeding 1,000 fixtures, Lantern Masters specializes in crafting interior, exterior, and custom lighting for high-end residential estates and commercial properties in styles that range from classical and old world to modern and contemporary.
“Our goal is to blend traditional forging methods with modern technology to craft exceptional and beautifully designed light fixtures,” says Sharyn Olesker, vice president of manufacturing.
The family-owned and -operated company, founded in 1978, frequently draws inspiration from historical lighting styles of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries when developing new designs.
Lantern Masters, based in California, has garnered international acclaim for its expertise in crafting distinctive interior and exterior lighting solutions tailored for estates, hotels, restaurants, theme parks, and commercial establishments. These lighting fixtures encompass a variety of illumination options, including incandescent, LED, or gas, all designed to endure diverse weather.
“Lighting plays a pivotal role in luxury properties, particularly in defining the suitable style, size, and brightness for each fixture,” Olesker says. “Lantern Masters regularly collaborates with interior designers, architects, and design teams to craft innovative and captivating designs.”
Period Lighting Fixtures
Although Period Lighting Fixtures creates handmade reproductions of lanterns, sconces, and chandeliers that date from 1620 to 1850, the fixtures are timeless and are designed to fit into any residential décor.
The exterior and interior fixtures, which are made of copper, lead-coated copper, brass, steel, and tin, encompass candlelight to oil light. They are built to order and grace historic sites, ranging from Colonial Williamsburg and Old Sturbridge Village to Connecticut’s Bush-Holley House and Newport’s Isaac Bell House.
Noting that the company does its own research on antique lighting, CEO and Owner Chris Burda says that “our catalogs, which have over 200 models, show where the original was found and usually side-by-side pictures of the original versus our reproduction. They also are full of information related to how to choose the right size as well as the proper installation of the fixture.”
Period Lighting Fixtures, which is based in Massachusetts, was founded in 1974. It works with museum curators, architects, and designers to create custom pieces. It also repairs and re-wires fixtures.
Shelburne Lighting & Metal Crafts
Custom work is what defines Shelburne Lighting & Metal Crafts, a small family-owned and -operated company in the namesake town in New Hampshire.
“What sets us apart is we, as the owners, work with our customers to come up with the design of their custom piece,” says Bill Davenport Jr., of the company founded by his father, Bill Sr. “We also spin the decorative bell tops, cones, caps, and other pieces you see on the tops of our lights. This opens up even more opportunities for custom work.”
The company, which does large and small lighting projects, was established in the 1960s as a sheet-metal shop. “As part of my dad’s metalworking training in trade school, he was required to make complex shapes with metal, and this eventually led to making brass and copper lighting,” Davenport says.
At first, making lighting fixtures was a hobby, and Bill Sr. gave most of them to family and friends. It wasn’t until 2000 that Shelburne Lighting & Metal Crafts launched a website to showcase these products. (The company also does plasma-cut metal artwork, including wood-stove heat shields.)
Today, three generations are involved: Bill Davenport Jr., Bill Sr., and his wife, Terry, and their grandson.
“We like to be creative and make things by hand that people appreciate, knowing how much work goes into a light fixture that will last years,” Davenport says. TB
