Olmstead Light Restoration

In partnership with the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, and the generous support of Osram Sylvania and Pepco, the Trust for the National Mall has restored and upgraded the 174 historic bronze street lamps designed by Frederick Law Olmsted that line the Mall. The new lights provide a brighter atmosphere to welcome the National Mall’s tens of thousand of visitors each year.

Private-sector lighting company Osram Sylvania donated the 174 LED Retrofit Kits for the vintage Olmstead light fixtures. D.C.’s own Pepco donated time and labor to install the retrofits.

“PEPCO also installed the original fixtures in 1936, which specified by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. as 21 foot tall, 300 pound, fluted bronze base and cast iron light fixtures for the federal reconstruction and beautification project of the National Mall” (U.S. Energy Department).

The new lights stretch from 3rd Street to 15th Street — roughly the area between the Capitol Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument. The bulbs are expected to provide annual energy savings of 65 percent and last for 25 years while providing a brighter atmosphere for the National Mall’s 36 million annual visitors.

“There is no more fitting place to install these state-of-the-art, energy-efficient bulbs than right here in America’s Front Yard, the National Mall.” — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar