The Design of the 1860 Renovations

The designs for the 1860 renovation are entitled ''Montauk Light house as altered in 1860.'' Pasted on the drawing is a small paper inscribed ''Wm. F. Smith, Engineer Secretary Light-House Board''. Captain William F. Smith's plans for the Montauk Point Lighthouse transform it as closely as possible to the standard first order lighthouse as described in the Light-House Board's 1861 Specifications for a First Order Light-House. These specifications were probably also written by Captain Smith. The requirements of a first order lighthouse and the renovations at Montauk Point can be summarized as follows:

Focal Plane Elevation of 150'. The Light-House Board required an elevation of 150' for first order Fresnel lenses to give the light a range of 20 miles. The tower at Montauk Point was already tall enough; the first order lens installed temporarily in 1857 had a focal plane 154' above sea level.

First Order Lantern. A first order lantern was designed specifically to accommodate the radius and height of a first order lens. The glazing of the lantern corresponded to the upper, middle, and lower sections of the Fresnel lens. Early lanterns for Fresnel lenses were imported from France along with the lenses. By 1860 American manufacturers were producing lanterns for Fresnel lenses, but a standard design had not yet been established. A first order lantern for Montauk Point was ordered from Ira Winn of Portland, Maine.

Service Room and Watch Room. A service room below the lantern was required for the pedestal and revolving apparatus of the first order lens. Because the lamp of a Fresnel lens needed to be watched throughout the night, a watch-room was required for the keeper on duty.

The easiest solution at Montauk Point was to set a standard assembly of service room, watch room, and balcony on top of the 1796 tower, Thus the height of the tower was increased in 1860 to provide a standard watch room and ser- vice room, not to provide a higher elevation for the first order lens.

Fireproof Construction. The introduction of iron stairways, decks, windows, and doors by the Light-House Board probably had several goals: to make the towers more fireproof by eliminating wooden components; to allow a standard design to be manufactured in quantity and allow monitoring of quality; and to provide components ready for assembly to be shipped to remote locations.

In 1860 the tower at Montauk Point was gutted of its wooden floors, stairs, and windows. A new spiral iron stairway was built in a new circular brick stairwell, The watch-room and service-room stairways were built up of standard iron units, iron decks, casement sash, and components in the renovated tower were installed, The only wooden components in the renovated tower were the interior main balcony doors.

The renovation of the Montauk Point Light Station in 1860 involved more than the tower itself, Other elements of the Light-House Board's standard plan for the first order lighthouse were also introduced, An oil house containing a room for oil storage and a workroom for maintenance was built adjacent to the tower. A double keeper's dwelling was built to house the three keepers appointed to a first order lighthouse. And a passage connected the living and working areas of the station.

Source: Montauk Point Lighthouse Bicentennial 1796-1996, Courtesy of the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum