 | ||||||
Chris J LeBlanc Photography - Lighthouses
Providing details and historical information of lighthouse pictures taken during my travels
West Bank (Staten Island Range-Front) Lighthouse
Lower New York Bay, New York
West Bank Lighthouse Links
© 2011 - Chris J LeBlanc Photographer
Location: Located in Lower New York Bay, 4.7 miles south of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
Latitude: N 40.53803
Longitude: N 40.53803
Year Constructed: 1901. Active
Tower Height: 55 feet Focal Plane: 69 feet
Round cast iron sparkplug tower with lantern and gallery, including a 3-story round keeper's quarters, mounted on a cast iron caisson. Lighthouse painted brown, caisson black. The original 4th order Fresnel lens was removed in 1998.
Historical Information:
- Station Established: 1901
- Year Current Tower(s) First Lit: 1901
- Operational? YES
- Automated? YES 1985
- Deactivated: n/a
- Foundation Materials: CONCRETE/CAST IRON CAISSON
- Construction Materials: CAST IRON
- Tower Shape: CONICAL "SPARK PLUG"
- Markings/Pattern: BROWN ON BLACK BASE
- Original Lens: FOURTH ORDER, FRESNEL 1901
The lighthouse at West Bank off Staten Island was built as part of a number of improvements to New York Harbor. Construction of the 55-foot iron tower began in August of 1900. Four courses of cylinder-shaped foundation plates were first sunk into place at the lighthouse site south of the Verrazano Bridge and filled with concrete. Then workers assembled the other five sections that would form the base. When that work was completed, the iron superstructure, weighing over 67 tons, was lifted into place. The beacon became operational on New Year’s Day of 1901, showing a fixed white light from a fourth-order Fresnel lens. A fog signal was installed later that year.
West Bank Lighthouse was automated in the early 1980s, when it was one of only six manned stations remaining in the Third Coast Guard District. In 1998, the beacon was converted to solar power. In May of 2007, the lighthouse was excessed by the Coast Guard and offered at not cost to eligible entities. After no qualified owner for the lighthouse was found, the General Services Administration auctioned off the lighthouse during the summer of 2008.
