Southwest Ledge Lighthouse, New Haven Connecticut

Date added: February 19, 2023 Categories: Connecticut Lighthouse

North and west elevations, camera facing southeast (1989)

The superstructure constructed for this site was installed on the grounds of the Centennial Exposition in Philadephia in 1876; a lighthouse keeper lived within and tended the lamp which was exhibited nightly from July 4, 1876, until the close of the Exhibition. The pre-fabricated, cast-iron tube foundation "for an iron lighthouse for a marine site on the tubular plans" installed at Southwest Ledge in 1876, appears to be the earliest example of this type of construction remaining in the Third District, if not in the nation. Designed by Major George H. Elliot, Engineer-Secretary for the Lighthouse Board in the early 1870s, the tube foundation was meant for northern underwater sites, where screw-pile lighthouses were menaced by floating ice. This design is considered of great importance in the development of lighthouse engineering. The superstructure of the lighthouse represents a transition; its Second Empire detailing carries on the feeling of the combined dwelling and lighthouse of the 1860s and 1870s, which emphasized the domestic aspect of the structure and reflected the national preference for revival styles. Yet in the utilization of cast-iron as a building material, pre-fabricated and bolted together on the sites the Southwest Ledge Lighthouse ushered in the succeeding period in which conical cast-iron towers gave little outward indication of their use as dwellings. The prototype for the pre-fabricated conical towers seems to have been the Hunting Island, South Carolinas lighthouse. This was a much taller structure, established in 1873, designed for easy disassembly and reconstruction in a new location when erosion threatened the original site.

The harbor improvements undertaken at New Haven after the Civil War included a recommendation from V.C. Houston in 1868 that Southwest Ledge, which impinged on the shipping channel, be blasted rather than marked with a lighthouse. However, funding was appropriated suggesting a new type of foundation and tubular pier to support a lighthouse on Southwest Ledge.

At the Southwest Ledge site, as at Stratford Shoal, this new procedure involved forming a ring of riprap, within which cement was poured to level the rock of the ledge. But at Southwest Ledge, Woodruff planned the use of a tubular pier made of curved plates of cast-iron, flanged toward the interior of the curve for connection with iron bolts and connected into courses or rings which could be bolted together, one atop the other, to form a cylinder. A diving-bell could be used to guide the setting of the lowest horizontal ring of cast-iron tube foundation into position. Filled with rocks and cement, the pier would form a stable base for the superstructure. The superstructure also was to be built of cast-iron plates, bolted together in the form of a Second Empire style house with a steeply pitched mansard roof. Atop the roof would be the lantern.

Ramsey and Carter of Baltimore were granted the contract for the metal work in June 1875. In 1876, they arranged to ship the lighthouse intended for Southwest Ledge to the grounds of the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition for display. In June of that year it was agreed that the identical lighthouse superstructure being manufactured for Ship John Shoal, Delaware, be shipped to New Haven when completed so that work could proceed at Southwest Ledge. The lighthouse on display in Philadelphia would be shipped to Delaware at the close of the Exhibition.

After completion of Southwest Ledge Lighthouse, the program of harbor improvements continued with both the dredging of channels and the construction of riprap breakwaters. Southwest Ledge Lighthouse became the southwestern terminus of one such breakwater. In 191l, the tubular foundation was reinforced with straps and buckles. During the depression, more than $13,000.00 was appropriated by Congress for work on Southwest Ledge Lighthouse; riprap was added surrounding the lighthouse, and two boat cranes on concrete pads were installed. Evidence of the cranes remains to the north and south of the lighthouse, on top of the riprap.

Lighthouse Description

Southwest Ledge Lighthouse, established on January l, 1877, marks a hazardous underwater rock formation on the east side of the main channel into New Haven Harbor. Presently painted white, the eight-sided lighthouse is a one story cast-iron dwelling richly detailed in the Second Empire style with a lantern capping its two-story mansard roof. The foundation, a cast-iron cylinder, is surrounded by riprap, which extends as a breakwater toward the northeast. The breakwater was constructed after the lighthouse was established. The only other structure on the site is a concrete footing for a cranes once used as a landing aid.

The superstructure is built atop a cylinder made of curved iron plates, bolted together through flanges cast into the periphery of the inner surface of each plate. The cylinder rises from a poured concrete base situated within a protective ring of riprap eleven feet below the water. Its interior is filled with stones and concrete, except for a cavity at the top center which houses a square, brick-walled cellar space and a brick vaulted cistern. By 1911 joints in the foundation had opened, and bands and straps were applied at three levels to mitigate the problem.

A projecting square cast-iron platform rests atop the cylinder, providing a gallery around the base of the superstructure. A system of immense cast-iron brackets supports the outer edges of the gallery. At the corners the brackets join, strengthening the transition from foundation to gallery. Edging the gallery are remnants of the original, flat cast-iron, double railings supported by cylindrical iron stanchions with spherical finials and slender cylindrical intermediate vertical braces.

In plan, the superstructure is a square with beveled corners. It contains three stories, one at main deck level and two beneath the mansard roof. On the roof rests the octagonal lantern surrounded by a gallery with railing and capped with an ogee octagonal roof.

A double-leafed entrance door is located on the west facade. Above the replacement sheet metal doors, a glass transom is flanked by cast-iron consoles which support a molded, flat doorhood with a recessed panel and an axial, round-arched detail. Below the consoles, flanking pilasters rest on plain plinths. Centered on each of the remaining seven sides of the first story is a cast-iron window surround. The shallow pitched peak of its projecting lintel contains a recessed panels while the lesser projection of the plain jambs ends below projecting sills ina pointed detail. All window openings on the first story are flat-topped. Those on the four principal sides contain six-over-six wood sash, while all others contain four-over-four sash. Each corner of the first story 1s finished with a cast-iron pilaster with recessed panelling and a molded cap. The pilasters visually support a full entablature which encircles the lighthouse. The entablature consists of a stepped and molded architrave, bracketed frieze, and molded cornice. The brackets, ornamented with rosettes on their projecting faces, continue the recessed panel motif utilized in pilasters and door hood.

The cast-iron mansard roof, detailed to resemble standing seam roof construction, features a gabled dormer centered on each of the four main elevations at the second story level and a bullseye window directly above to light the third story. Detailing on the dormer windows includes a round-arched window opening within a surround featuring a keystone, incised detail, rosettes, a peaked, molded cornice, and footscrolls above projecting sills. The bullseye window surrounds on the third or watchroom level consist of a molded upper half with keystone detail, eared corners, and three drops with rosettes below. A compound molding at the top of the mansard undergirds a cast-iron gallery. The gallery is edged with a double railing of flat section on round stanchions. Although its spherical knobs are now missing, the railing appears original.

The sides of the octagonal lantern are divided in half horizontally. Each of the upper sections contains a pane of glass measuring 39 inches by 34 inches, while each of the lower sections contains a cast-iron panel. At the bottom of each glass pane on the interior is a metal strip containing the original condensation channels. Four of the lantern panels contain round ventilators. The northeast panel 1s pierced by a set of doors which lead to the lantern gallery. The outer door is metal, while the inner door is woods matching the beaded board paneling of the lantern interior. The high domed ceiling of the lantern is formed of thick sheet metal. The center hole to the ventilator is covered over. Over each glass pane is a pair of attachments, most likely intended for shutters or curtain rods. The floor of the lantern is composed of four quadrants of cast-iron. One of the quadrants contains a hatch with a single-leaf cover providing access to the watchroom below.

On the interior of the tower, the brick walls of the basement support the iron sills of the superstructure, which are marked "Phoenix Iron Co., Philadelphia." Upper floors are built of wood supported on wood joists. Straight flights of stairs on the west side of the tower are lighted by west-facing windows on each level. The remaining space is divided into two rooms per story. However, the second story partition is presently removed. Closet space was created adjacent to the staircase or within the rooms. Walls and ceiling are covered with beaded boards tongue and groove panelings while the interior window jambs, lintels, and projecting sills are cast as part of the iron shell of the structure.

The focal plane of the lighting apparatus is sixty-eight feet, eight inches above high water. At present the lighting equipment within the lantern is automated and electric, housed in a circular-plan lens with diagonal astragals mounted on a pedestal. The fog signal, manufactured by the Pennwalt Corporation, occupies the southwest corner of the first story gallery.

All window openings are blocked with plywood; most of the sash remains in place behind the plywood, though the glass has been removed. First-floor openings are fitted with large sheet-metal ventilators.