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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFI-1 i r FOR OFFICE USE ONLY BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM UNIQUE SITE NO, 101W.rrm)9`b FI-1 DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION QUAD NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION SERIES ALBANY,NEW YORK (519) 474-0479 NEG. NO. YOUR NAME: Town of Southold/SPLIA DATE: February 1988 YOUR ADDRESS: Town Hall, Main Rd. TELEPHONE: 516 765 1892 Southold, LI NY 11971 ORGANIZATION (if any): Southold Town Community Development Office IDENTIFICATION 1, BUILDING NAME(S): Latimer Reef Light House 2. COUNTY: Suffolk TOWN/CITY: Southold VILLAGE: Fishers Island 1. STREET LOCATION: Approx. 1 mile N of East Point (FI) and 4 miles SE Mystic, 4. OWNERSHIP: a. public ❑ h private ❑ in Fishers Island Sound. 5. PRESENTOWNER: ADDRESS: 6. USE: Original: light housePresent: light house 7. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC. Exterior visible from public road: Yes ❑ No ❑ Interior accessible: Explain DESCRIPTION (lining) H. BUILDING a. clapboard ❑ b. stone ❑ c. brick Q d. board and batten ❑ MATERIAL: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles ❑ g. stucco ❑ other: cast iron 9. STRUCTURAL a. wood frame with interlocking joints ❑ SYSTEM: b. wood frame with light members ❑ (if kn(wn) c. masonry load bearing walls ❑ d, metal (explain) prefabricated cast iron plates e, other cast iron with brick lining, cement/cast iron 10. CONDITION: a, excellent ❑ b. good x❑ c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated ❑foundation. 11. INTEGRITY: a. original site ® b. moved ❑ if so,when? c. list major alterations and dates (if known): Roof portion missing, Fresnel lens removed 1983 to Elbow of Cross Ledge Light, Delaware Bay, N.J. . 12. PHOTO: U.S . Coast Guard photo. 13. MAP: NYS DOT Mystic quad Li$h 9 ' V 9 ' rs +, 70 — — 4 .. 'r Seal IL - Rocks Q .a Pl„ - - — -- • Mid`� W Point � rd inthrOp P--'fix_\j1�11J`M Ice �`;,• P �;: 4 � t5l li 4 x F1-1 14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a, none known ❑ b.zoning ❑ c. roads ❑ d. developers ❑ e. deterioration C�} f. other: 15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY: a. barn❑ b. carriage house ❑ c. garage ❑ d. privy ❑ e. shed ❑ f. greenhouse ❑ g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑ L landscape features: rock reef j. other: Fishers Island Soun 16. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (check more than one if necessary): a.open land ❑ b. woodland ❑ f c. scattered buildings ❑ d.densely built-up ❑ e. commercial ❑ f. industrial ❑ g. residential D h.other: Fishers Island Sound 17. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS: (Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district) Located at the western edge of Latimer Reef, a rock reef approximatly 4 miles SE of Mystic, Ct. , and 1 mile N of East Point, Fishers Island. Latimer Reef is approximatly r2 mile long. A bouy marks the east end of the reef. 18. OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known): 4 story, round, "truncated cone" light house with cast iron balconies encircling the lantern and gallery decks. Windows with molded hoods. Port hole windows on watch deck. Brown daymark band at middle of tower. SIGNIFICANCE 19. DATE OF INITIAL CONSTRUCTION: 1$$4 ARCHITECT: U.S. Light House Board (standard specifications) BUILDER: t '0. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE: Vais lighthouse is an early example of a late 19th century caisson lighthouse . The cast-iron tower has architectural details of hoodmolds and railing stanchions which are representative of its period . From a navigational point of view, it is the most important light in this area. The light is 55 feet above the water. 21. SOURCES: Coast Guard Light List Vol. Z Atlantic Coast; M-7-577. 9 3 Fights and Legends. Harlan Hamilton. 1987 2. rHEN1F: Form prepared by Kurt Yahofer, research assistant. ■ y Y/ Y r : R� FI 1 Latimer U. S. Coast Guard Photo. Latimer Reef Light House Fisher~- CHAPTER 35 LATIMER REEF LIGHT, Mystic, CT (1884) Light List No.: 18930 Location: Latitude 41° 180 N r r 4 Longitude 71° 56.01W r+s; Height: 49' (HAW 551 :'. Range:9 miles, Flashing White every 6 sec. (2 sec. i . Flash), Horn Lens: 300 mm, 2,03 amp lamp Latimer Reef Light is the oldest cast-iron lighthouse still in service in the First Coast Guard District. In 1884, it replaced the lightship at Lel Grass Shoal, about 0.8 mile northwest of the present lighthouse.Coming from the west,the light is the most important one in this area and a prom- inent mark in this end of Fisher's Island Sound.Mariners should use it as a gauge of when to turn into Stonington certa in- ly ril through Fisher's Island Sound lies south of he light,though you er ly can pass north of it. Although Eel Grass Ground, Ram Island Reef, and other shallows are well buoyed, the safest course coming from the west in poor visibility is to head for the lighthouse, departing for the Stonington breakwaters just before you reach it. Your editor has twice used Latimer Reef Lighthouse in this manner coming into Stonington Harbor in blind fogs.Stonington Breakwater Light is northeast y4 east, Ph i`- miles, and Watch Hill Light is east 31A miles of Latimer. i` Latimer Reef itself, about 0.6 mile south of Noyes Shoal, is a very bro- ken and rocky area of 0.4 mile. It is marked by the lighthouse at its west end and a buoy at its east end. The eastern end of the reef has a least depth of six feet A detached 11-ft. spot, marked by a buoy, is about 0.4 mile northeast of the light.The reef is located about four miles southeast k of Mystic,Connecticut and about one mile north of Fishers Island's east end. The lighthouse is a brick-lined,cast-iron tower on a cement-filled cast- iron foundation.It was constructed in this way,because on sheltered sites ;s in the water where a masonry tower would be impractical or too expen- sive,and where a structure of moderate size would serve the needs of nav- igation, cast-iron caissons or shells could be easily sunk and firmly se- cured.Besides the lighthouse,the site includes the remnant of a masonry dock and a protective band of riprap which encircles the foundation and extends northward for some 50 feet. Attempts to Mark the Reef Recorded accounts of attempts to mark Latimer Reef with navigational aids go back to 1804 when the Coast Dilor noted:"Latimer Rack...has an iron spire on top of it, about 13 feet high, with a white vane:' The iron spindle was carried away by ice on numerous occasions.By 1867, it was Lights and Legends . , by Harlan . Hamilton, 1987. 212 :. k asp. -AR I��• )•} L_ }r � X41 ?p' � �) �' 1�. :Y: .�.;•t�1� ial �� •� � �A � •I ' _4 '^+tyff'��d�•J�f �,yJ,J4Y;, �-. �� �i4 N!�`ai�\)r - K WPM- I. x6 Ir �rss . • 3"w. ._ _ _ _ .'Ci +'M,'�"�t - .yr;g* tk;.i-z. y rr}..fi'M..k #ka";'.'•Y�••''�✓,i?�a*a",'?, .?n�MSUA^. , f4� ' 4 Hinting of Tiatimer Reef ?'sight by 1). Tod Johnstone of Stonington f �' circa 1985 . O Ct1 . Vi '-h O d n `.�. C R� n b cr .C. O. ra CD •� •~ s. C ` S �1 (ry4 C4 f9 l➢ :»a ; rD rn r AUG .- 0 b '•x -- i � M�Iixa y Y s, # ash + r�+,. t � '. 'ef^wti' Latimer Reef Light, Myslic, CT Photo by rulius Al.Weleasky Lights and Legends. . . Harlan Hamilton 1987 H FT 1 replaced with a can buoy with red and black horizontal stripes. Eleven years later, the reef was marked by two navigational aids. A spar buoy, painted red and black in horizontal stripes was placed in 15 feet of water close to the seaside of the ledge."The dry part of the reef was marked by an iron spindle painted red and black in horizontal stripes and sur- mounted by a square cage. The Coast Pilot for 1888 listed the lighthouse as an "iron pier, painted red surmounted by a brown iron tower with a black lantern, flashing white every 10 secs., distance visible in nautical miles 13. Fog signal,bell struck by machinery every 15 secs."By 1899,the light had been painted in the colors mariners know so well today, white with a brown band about midway of its height on a brown cylinder foundation.The lantern is still black. Keepers Charles E.P.Noyes was appointed keeper on June 12, 1884 at an annu- al salary of$600. Assistants at the light included: Samuel G. Gardiner, George W. Friend, and Manuel E. Joseph (from the Azores). They were paid 5400 a year.There were nine other assistants to the keeper to August 12, 1898, who were paid $420 a year. Description of the Light The foundation of Latimer Reef Lighthouse rests directly upon the rock-bottom of the reef. Its cast-iron shell is composed of curved and flanged cast-iron plates, bolted together on the inside.The prefabricated plates were assembled on the site and then filled with Portland cement, creating a heavy stable footing, 30 feet diameter and 25 feet high.The in- side faces of the foundation plates are corrugated,probably to insure that the cement would not shift once it hardened.In the center of the founda- tion's top, an area was left unfilled to provide a basement storage area. 1 The tower takes the form of a truncated cone, 21 feet diameter at the i bottom and 18 feet diameter at the top. Walls are curved cast-iron plates t c connected by bolts through internal flanges. Unlike most lighthouses, t t Latimer Reef light is missing its brick lining in two stories.The space be- 1 tween the edge of the foundation and the base of the tower form a gallery which has a single pipe rail. The plain, rectangular door faces west. Three stories held living quarters when the light was manned, and the fourth story served as the watch deck. Each of the living quarters'stories ` has three windows, arranged irregularly to light the quarters but not the t interior stairway. Round ports light the watch deck. Both the watch deck t and the octagonal lantern which surmounts it have galleries with pipe t railings featuring ornate, cast-iron stanchions. The overhanging watch deck gallery is supported on cast-iron brackets which also serve to anchor k 1 these stanchions.The peaked metal roof of the lantern is surmounted by L a spherical ventilator. The interior of the tower contains only back-up generating equipment, although its structural features remain. Chief among these are a centralF Lights and Legends . . . . Harlan Hamilton 1987 : 214 r �fcr a` 1•,' 's.-i�-< i tks. Eleven cast-iron column which supports the cast-iron floor plates, and the brick ar buoy, lining which is 18 inches thick at the bottom and tapers to a smaller Of water thickness above.The cast-iron stairs ascend around the periphery of the tow irked by =''` er and are set into the brick lining for support nd sur- An interesting feature, reflecting the need to conserve interior space in such structures, is the use of round-arched niches in the lining. Fitted painted with shelves, these niches served as storage spaces. Narrow-board hard- lashing wood flooring covers the cast-iron floor plates. Where brick lining is tal, bell missing, markings on the individual plates such as "2J," "8J," etc. illus- nted in trate how the prefabricated plates were assembled on-site. 1 about I black. A Capsizing The weather was cold and clear on Monday morning, November 8, 1982. Wind was west at 20 knots. Seas were four to six feet and running annu- west southwest.Two contractors working on Latimer Reef Light observed rdiner, two men in a 16-ft., V-bottom, white fiber glass boat drop anchor about Y were 200 yards east of the light.They soon dropped fishing lines over the side kugusl of their boat. The morning became somewhat warmer.Workers at the light saw sev- eral waves hit the boat broadside. It broached, capsized and sank within three to four minutes, according to the two witnesses. One of the on the fishermen, a 69-year old man from Brooklyn, New York, apparently be- :1 and came entangled in the lines in the boat and went down with it when it .cated capasized. He never came up.The second man, 48-years old from Paw- ment, catuck, Connecticut, managed to jump clear of the boat as it went over to in- and clung to her hull briefly until she sank. that Two lobster boats,which were checking their traps in the area,arrived inda- at the scene of the accident within 20 minutes and picked up the drowned trea. body of the fisherman from Pawcatuck.The Coast Guard,notified by the t the lobstermen by radio of the capsizing, conducted an intensive search of lates the area for the missing body of the second fisherman and the debris of uses, the sunken boat. They found neither, and to this day the missing person be- has never been found or seen again. Very Historical Significance of the Light u ' the Latimer Reef Light is a relatively well-preserved example of a late 19th ries century lighthouse.One of its major losses is the roof that once protected the the gallery at the tower's first story. The roofs absence alters the distinc- eck live profile of the lighthouse.The roof recalled the days of manned opera- ,ipe tion when such amenities were part of the lighthouse design. tchA second major loss is the light's fourth-order omni-directional Fresnel hor lens which was removed in 1983 when the signal equipment was modern- by ized. The classical lens was transferred and installed in the Elbow of Cross Ledge Light in Delaware Bay, New Jersey. Made in Paris by the French firm of Barrier, Benard and Turrenne, the lens consisted of glass ral prism rings set in brass retainers. The lens at Latimer Reef Light is due Tghts and Tegends . . . . Harlan Hamilton 1987 21 - I for yet another change shortly. Within a year, it will be replaced by a more economical, more efficient, and easier to maintain solar lighting system. Despite these losses, the light's concrete-filled iron foundation, cast- iron tower and architectural details such as hoodmolds and railing stan- chions are still present at the light and represent characteristic elements of the period. Latimer Reef Light also has historical significance as part of the Lighthouse Board's efforts to assure safe shipping in eastern Long Island Sound and Fishers island Sound,a region where ship-borne com- merce and commercial fisheries have long been important.The Connect- icut communities of Mystic and New London and other area communities have a strong interest in and an awareness of their area's maritime heritage. Prior to the late 1870s,lighthouses were commonly constructed of brick and stone,but by 1875 structural iron had begun to replace masonry.Not only was iron becoming cheaper and more readily available as the iron industry matured, but also it was in some respects a superior material. The cast-iron plates which form the walls of the light's tower, as well as the foundation shell and the interior floors, provided a superstructure which was in large part pre-fabricated and therefore easily assembled un- der the difficult conditions of a water-bound site.When lined with a layer of brick several feet thick, the tower offered stability equal to that of ma- sonry construction. Thus, iron towers such as Latimer Reef Light are historically signifi- cant,because they exemplify the increased standardization of lighthouse design in the United States during the 1880s and 1890s. The same basic scheme, even includinz virtually identical details such as brackets and wood Holds, can be found all along the East Coast.The cast-iron towers -were suitable in a variety of situations, including shoals, reefs, and even atop breakwaters. This enabled the Lighthouse Board to reuse the same plans and contract specifications for each new light. This economy of time and expense in design effort was especially important in view of in- creased shipping in the late 19th century and consequent need for more lighthouses. Latimer Reef Light has been nominated to be included in the National Register of Historic places. L�hts and Teaends . . . , Harlan Hamilton 1987 216 y� qq r,..., .. ,'1` n FI 1 r I In the early 1880s, however, apparently in an effort to conserve design costs and to speed development of new lights in places like Stamford, Connecticut (Ledge Obstruction Light, 1882) and Mystic, Connecticut x (Latimer Reef Light, 1884), the Lighthouse Board established a standard- : tzed iron tower. Circular in plan with inwardly tapering sides,the stand- and tower had walls similar to the caisson shell, curved and flanged iron plates, prefabricated and bolted together on site. A thick brick lining bal- lasted the tower, creating a very solid structure.I-lie standardized design format extended even so far as the few exterior details. such as gallery brackets and hoodmolds. The Lighthouse Board prepared pre-printcd specifications for all the elements in the format,greatly speeding the pro- cess of requesting bids for metal work and construction. } g Orient Point Lighthouse is an example of the long period of the stand- ard design's use, having been erected in 1899,nearly 20 years after the first Ceda such lighthouses appeared. Similar lighthouses were constructed about Long I� the same time in Norwalk, Connecticut and are also discussed in this on thei book, Greens Ledge Light (1902) and Peck Ledge Light (1906). The One stc arclitype remained virtually unchanged until after 1910,when several im- whene4 provements were made.The tower cross-section was widened,and the liv- land's I t ing areas were given more windows. But the overall scheme still resern- vived d # bled very closely that of the 1880s.Orient Point is one of some three doz- constru en such lighthouses erected in the Northeast. In its comparatively well- on the e preserved condition in an exposed location subject to occasional severe ger twh wave-buffeting, it stands as a fine representative of late 19th century Harbor, American lighthouse technology. The f t 1839, bu portof: tions at Gardinc long spi ' was extt shifting "Fahlu❑ land an( naIly cor n which It n When whalesh areas in lain Jos) lights." . structio:- in Gar,'. on his Motor and turntabk driie for 190 mm lantern 1'-3112" go and Land©: Dimensions of 190 mm lantern. See also page 1.53 Weight is 29 lbs. 150 Courtesy U.S.Coast Guard TAghts and T�egends 1987 by Harlan Hamilton Y1 F