HERE IS A REALLY GREAT SURVEY OF VINTAGE OUTDOOR LIGHTING, from my 1961 Progress Lighting catalog. I started with this photo because: Just look at the little umbrella landscape light. It is phenomenal! The careful addition of outdoor lighting can be one of the easiest and relatively cheapest ways to improve the curb appeal of your midcentury ranch house, Cape, colonial or contemporary. At minimum, think: High quality, well maintained wall lanterns adjacent to or above the entry door and garage, and a lamp post either at the front of the driveway or closer to the house next to a walkway heading toward the door. Landscape around the lamp post – this is also a great piece of ‘hardscape’ to launch a decorative fence. Light are “sentinels”. Use them to ultimately draw attention toward your front door…they are tools to make your house say a big, warm “Welcome.”
All of these lamp post styles are “around” — except, as far as know, for the decorative steel one, #3. I did feature a metal post for a mailbox that might be able to be adapted for this use. I also must say, I am not quite sure where to get a post that includes the hanger thingy shown above on all the posts. We had to drill ours in, it was a real hassle. Finally, on this topic – I know where to get a nice, heavy duty custom name-and-number plate to hang on your lamp post. We have one! It is so cool! Will do a post soon. A post post tee hee.
1961 post lanterns. SO COOL. LOVE that guy in the upper right with the house numbers included. Swoonable.
A couple more. The three colonial styles can *pretty much* be found today.
Oh, and here’s some more. Nice! These lanterns – hmmm, nothing like them available today, I fear. ?
Wall lanterns to match. Hanover make lanterns with the scrolly thingys, like the example at the top. This style goes over the garage, center. You need to make sure you fascia is tall enough. Be careful about scale. In fact, scale is a very Important issue regarding all these lights: You don’t want your lights to be too big, or too dinky. You want them to be just right. One of my biggest pet peeves is the houses today with their gargantuan wall lanterns. Ugh. You want people to see your House. Not your Wall Lantern. These are like jewelry. Agonize over this decision, please.
More outdoor retro lighting. Love that P5973!
The three colonial style ceiling fixtures on this page – ubiquitous in the 50s and 60s. Everywhere! Easy to find replacements today. But they can be cheap looking. Spend a little extra to get solid heavy construction. It will subconsciously comfort you even though the inexpensive big box store lights look the same.
Douglas Camin @ House on Rynkus Hill says
So I was perusing this post and realized that we have one of the Progress Lightning fixtures listed here on the outside of our house. We have a pair of P 5966’s flanking our front door.
Interesting fact about that light – it isn’t metal. The main body is thick glass that is just painted black. I’m going to be repainting them soon, so I will snap some pictures.
Jacquie Y says
My husband and I just got home from picking up the P 5973! We just put it up outside the front door, looks sooo sharp! Saw it on CL and had to grab it. The man said it was from his parents store in 1950’s, and he just brought everything that was left in the store here to Phoenix from Chicago.It was in a Progress box, he said it was the original box that it came in. I am happy! I can post pics if you would like to see!
Andy says
Does anyone know where to buy a mid-century style lamp post that looks like this:
http://design-milk.com/the-saddest-lamp-posts-on-the-block/
I’d really like one for in front of my 1963 mid-century house….
Lisette says
loveitlighting.com has those lights and more importantly for me the replacement globes. They are not cheap but it is what you are looking for.
Heidi Swank says
We bought a light that looks a lot like the P 5970 from Rejuvenation called Otis. We love it. It really lights up a lot of our yard and yet makes the front of the house seem homey and inviting.
Vacc139 says
Progress Lighting http://progresslighting.com/ still has some landscape ligthing fixtures that resemble the 1961 ones.
sumac sue says
One last thing — my parents once had a lamp-post featuring a projection made to look like a tree limb, with a squirrel perched on it. Like Maureen’s mother, they kept it painted white. We kids would joke about the albino squirrel on the lamp-post.
Janet says
This is exactly what I’m looking for!!!!!! Anyone know where I can find one!!!.? Thanks,
!
Pam Kueber says
Hi Janet, I recommend starting a bunch of saved searches on ebay using different terms. Then just wait it out, it will come to you. Right now, I see two 6″ tall vases fitting your description – these could likely be easily converted to lamps, but I’m not sure they are what you describing — http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-50s-Bud-Vase-Tree-Trunk-w-Squirrel-22-K-Gold-Trim-MCM-SHAWNEE/263120323880?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D45727%26meid%3D2749a1d1d7e647d680afcb821bcf46ca%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D132298980638&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
Good luck.
sumac sue says
Our colonial-style lamp-post is somewhat like #5490. But, the top of the lamp, or lid, has four glass inserts, rather than being solid black metal. We couldn’t get the lamp to come on by flipping the most likely switch, and we figured something was wrong with the wiring. Then, we discovered it was wired to a different switch, which also controls one outlet in the living room. Weird. The previous owner, a retired art teacher, had painted the pole bright red, as well as the mailbox by the front door. Also weird. We repainted them black. I use twine to allow morning glories and clematis to grow from the ground up to the lamp. (I also use twine to allow morning glories to grow up to the soffits on the west side of the house, creating some shade over the windows. It’s fun, then, to look out the windows and watch the bees on the flowers.)
Tut says
5970 is the one that caught my eye. But my favorite outdoor fixture is still the green 3-tier ground lights, especially when they’re near some big evergreen bushes or along a curved driveway. Timeless.
Susan says
Out door lighting seems to mystify people. I have some in my studio, not a whole lot. Here is a great source http://www.loveitlighting.com , if you do not already know about them. Good quality, I have had customers use them and been happy.
Maureen says
Here’s a post about my parents’ house that has a lamp-post that my dad would have made in the mid-1960s:
http://mjsputtering.blogspot.com/2008/07/mish-mash.html
My mother still has this lamp-post which sits near the sidewalk leading to their house. She had it painted white instead of its original black. (I prefer it in black). It may inspire others to make their own too! He also put an electrical outlet in the bottom of it which was handy in winter for block-heater purposes and the outlet was controllable from the house. (Can you tell he was an electrician?)