an old light switch
This push-button light switch is in the hallway outside my apartment. My landlord is repainting this hallway, so I’m afraid he might want to modernize the light switch...
The letters H&H are stamped on this switch, between the buttons. You can see it better in the side view below. That’s the Hart & Hegeman Manufacturing Company, of Hartford CT, which produced light switches under that name from 1890 to the late 1920s. By the end of that period, this type of switch had mostly been supplanted by the modern flip type. The building is from the mid 19th century, so this switch could be from anywhere in that range.
Notice that this wall is made of horsehair plaster and you can see the hairs sticking out of the cracked edges where the switch is installed. Horsehair plaster was the most common way to build interior walls until the 1920s or so, which is when drywall became common.
(view large for more detail)
an old light switch
This push-button light switch is in the hallway outside my apartment. My landlord is repainting this hallway, so I’m afraid he might want to modernize the light switch...
The letters H&H are stamped on this switch, between the buttons. You can see it better in the side view below. That’s the Hart & Hegeman Manufacturing Company, of Hartford CT, which produced light switches under that name from 1890 to the late 1920s. By the end of that period, this type of switch had mostly been supplanted by the modern flip type. The building is from the mid 19th century, so this switch could be from anywhere in that range.
Notice that this wall is made of horsehair plaster and you can see the hairs sticking out of the cracked edges where the switch is installed. Horsehair plaster was the most common way to build interior walls until the 1920s or so, which is when drywall became common.
(view large for more detail)