Engineering:Electrolier

Short description: Fixture for holding electric lamps

This 1.8-metre-diameter (6 ft) crystal electrolier (chandelier) hangs from the dome of the Minnesota State Capitol rotunda. A manual winch originally lowered it about 37 m (120 ft) to the floor for maintenance, as seen in the c. 1910 photograph.

Access Door of the Minnesota State Capitol Electrolier Open to Show Bulbs

Electrolier is a fixture for holding electric lamps. Normally, the term designates an elaborate light fixture suspended from above, such as a large, multi-bulb pendant light. Additionally, the term is used by architects in the United States to refer to electric street lights or any exterior light fixture mounted on a pole or standard. The word is analogous to chandelier, from which it was formed.

An example usage of the term is found in Sir John Betjeman’s poem "The Metropolitan Railway - Baker Street Station Buffet" from his collection "A Few Late Chrysanthemums" (1954): "Early Electric! With what radiant hope / Men formed this many-branched electrolier, / Twisted the flex around the iron rope / And let the dazzling vacuum globes hang clear, / And then with hearts the rich contrivance fill’d / Of copper, beaten by the Bromsgrove Guild."

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  Electrolier in the Grand Staircase of Sheffield Town Hall, England

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  Electrolier in the National Farmer's Bank of Owatonna, Minnesota Postcard c. 1910

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  1894 bronze electrolier with 45 branches in Pullman Memorial Universalist Church, Albion, NY