Old House Interiors

Old House Interiors
February 2007
Wall Brighteners

Originally, a sconce was not a fixture at all, just a fancy tin-coated holder with a back, capable of supporting a candle or two and hung on a wall. Elaborate ones might have an oval or mirrored back to increase candle power. With gaslight came the Victorian bracket lamp—lights mounted on an arm (or two, or three) fixed to a decorative plate that concealed the source of its luminescence—a piped-in gas line in the wall. The plate, or bracket, proved equally popular with combination gas-electric fixtures, so that “wall-bracket” became synonymous with early electric 20th century wall lights. Faced with an abundance of designs, the nomenclature has returned to its beginnings, with the “sconce” the hands down winner in the name game.