Abstract
THE floodlighting of London and of many provincial cities has generally been favourably received by the public. The use of coloured light for buildings like the London County Hall and Hampton Court Palace has been severely criticised. The latter development was partly due to the invention of gaseous electric lamps which provide an economical method of producing coloured lights. In the Illuminating Engineer of June, P. Good reviews the Royal Jubilee electric lighting. He points out that the floodlighting of a building produces a visual impression which is quite unrelated to the daylight picture and should be so judged. If it has produced a satisfactory impression, it can be justified on artistic grounds. The Horse Guards Parade, illuminated by white light in 1931, was illuminated by violet light in 1935. Although one paper described it at the Jubilee as “a magic castle of palest violet”, yet to most people it looked like a temporary structure of plaster and not worthy to be compared with its appearance on the earlier occasion when illuminated by white light. The electrical industry has shouldered the burden of the cost of providing permanent installations at Buckingham Palace, the Horse Guards Parade, the National Gallery and ‘Big Ben’. Other interests are paying the cost of the permanent floodlighting of St. Paul's Cathedral. The floodlighting of public gardens has been universally praised. St. James's Park at night illuminated by 300 gas floodlights was a great attraction. When the development of the buildings on the south side of the Thames is completed, it is to be hoped that arrangement will be made for floodlighting and that commercial advertisements will be excluded.
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Floodlighting for the Royal Silver Jubilee. Nature 135, 1068 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/1351068b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1351068b0