Context 152 - November 2017

C O N T E X T 1 5 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7 21 Floorscape (and are) made of glass set in reinforced concrete, under brand names such as Luxcrete. By the 1890s Hayward Brothers and Eckstein (as the company had become) published a catalogue devoted to pavement lights and similar products running to 73 pages. It quotes a testimonial by the department store Far left column: Cast-iron kerbs in (from the top) Manchester (two different types), Bristol, Ironbridge and Shrewsbury Left column: Ironwork in the street recalls episodes in urban history.Thomas Crapper set up his business in 1861 but, contrary to popular belief, his name was not the origin of the slang word (photo of a cover inWestminster Abbey by Robert Huxford).The Vestry of St Pancras began generating electricity in the 1880s. London County Council existed from 1889 to 1965, and Stepney Borough Council from 1900 to 1965. Harborne Tenants Ltd (photo by Nick Molyneux) provided cooperative housing in the pioneering garden suburb of Moor Pool, Birmingham, in 1908-13. Marshall and Snelgrove: ‘Our basement is lighted by Hayward’s Patent Pavement Lights, the daylight being thrown 30 feet back, enabling the space to be utilised as counting-house, &c.’ Two illustrations in the catalogue show the value of pavement lights. In the first, a well-dressed lady gazes at