The History of Street Furniture

This isn't meant to be an absolute history backed up with stackd of evidence, merely my musings based on what I have picked up over the years - hope it's of some interest ...

What It Is and Where It All Began

Street Furniture is one of those phrases that very few people relate to, but which relates to them in more ways than they realise.

Street Furniture plays a role in peoples lives that is not often realised, and as such is overlooked.  Street Furniture surrounds people in many ways in many arenas - lighting our way at night, directing us in traffic, giving us plces to rest and sit and keeping us safe as pedestrians.

Although street furniture may be easily overlooked, it provides us with interesting information and valid insights into some of the ways that local authorities, the central government, designers, planners, architects or even occasionally charitable associations intervened in the environment to make it more pleasant or convenient for city residents.

Wikipedia has this to say about street furniture.

The Open University has this to say about street furniture

It is widely understood that the Romans introduced the concept of street furniture, using milestones and waymarkers on their ubiquitous roads.  Beyond this street furniture and its growth has been linked to the developments in transport alongside an increasing population and urbanisation.

Urbanisation and Street Furniture

Broadly speaking, modern street furniture of the types and with the uses found in modern urban spaces, town and cities, owes many of its roots to the growing need for lighting.  Back as far as 1417, London was lit by gas lanterns at certain times of the year. This is not confined to the UK either, Paris was first lit by gas lighting in 1524.

Subsequent trends continued and the need for lighting public areas grew. The movements of people from rural to urban areas and the burgeoning industrial growth furthered these requirements.

By 1823 many of Britains towns and cities were lit by gas, and by 1859 gas lighting in the home, workplace and in the streets was all over Britain. This in itself helped to forge the beginnings of the industrial revolution.

Wikipedia link to the history of gas lighting

Whilst street furniture in the form of gas ligting played its role in these social and economic leaps forward, a wider development in street furniture was taking place.  Increases in urban populations and the subsequent increases in transport requirements (firstly by horse and cart/carriage and latterly the motor car) demanded that pedestrains get some protection.  The bollard was born. Exactly when is not clear but it is widely believed that out of service cannon muzzles were used as bollards - cannons were turned on end with a cannonball fixed into the aperture, they provided excellent protection. Even today, the cannon pattern is a very popular and robust style of bollard.

These early bollards may not yet have had their own name though, the word ‘bollard’ may have come from the French/Norman word 'boulard’ which was a small wooden or iron post used to tie up ships when in dock. Nowadays these are simply known as mooring bollards.

Wikipedia has this to say about bollards

Street Furniture Through the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution saw major changes across Britain and indeed the world.  Much of the Industrial Revolution fell within the Victorian Era, which itself saw the growth of the British Empire.  The combination of rapid, often chaotic changes in towns and cities fuelled by massive scale urbanisation alongside the growth of the colonies and the development of new world markets saw a coming of age for street furniture.

Urban areas were developed to create accommodation and new transport networks. Pedestrian areas were also provided.  The wealth created by the industrial revolution meant that towns and cities could create their own bollard patterns, which for the first time not only did a practical job but were also placed for aesthetic reasons and to promote civic identity.

The growth of the railways also created an arena for the development of street furniture. The wealthy rail companies created their own bollard patterns and provided what was probably the first public seating areas.  Outdoor seating, mostly made from cast iron and timber, provided rest for the weary traveller.

Beyond the Industrial Revolution

Since the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian Era ended, urban design and urban planning has seen its conception. Urban design has taken street furniture’s humble foundations and developed complicated coordinated schemes. Where once only timber and iron existed, modern day street furniture is manufactured in steel, stainless steel, polyurethane, granite, aluminium - in fact, if a material is robust enough for external use, there is probably an item of street furniture made from it.