“Well, it’s been hanging in that bedroom as long as Grandma’s been alive, so it must be original, right?”

Native to the rooms in older houses where we get our beauty sleep, the fixture species in question here is usually spotted with a softly tinted decorative bowl shade of thick pressed glass. Sometimes suspended with three little bead chains, sometimes via a post through a hole in its center, these lights are so common that it can seem like they’ve always lived there… But unless your house was built after about 1935, these fixtures are newcomers that displaced older lights long out of style.

Here we’ll trace the history of these popular fixtures and their distinctive bead-chain and center-hole pressed glass shades – a history that spans the two decades between 1935 and 1955, when countless thousands of these lights were hung in homes across the country, new and old.

This collection of fixtures from 1933 to 1935 show early bead-chain and center-post forms, as manufacturers experimented with ways to make close-to-the-ceiling lights that would illuminate a whole room with just one or two bulbs. (Rejuvenation archives)

By 1936, the new concept of suspending a shade from a series of three small bead chains inserted through holes in the glass (or metal) began to spread widely. These fixtures were aimed squarely at the bedroom market, as this selection from a Moe Brothers catalog shows. (Rejuvenation archives)

Sears is always a great barometer of style trends, rarely being early on a fad, but also rarely coming in too late. While their 1936 Lightmaster catalog featured no real bead-chain or center-post fixtures, their 1937 selection above did – including bead-chain shades hung on porcelain bases at the lower right. (Rejuvenation archives)

That’s a lot of catalog pictures, but we couldn’t resist – Jeannette Shade & Novelty Co. of Jeannette, Pennsylvania made a name for themselves with a broad line of classic bead-chain and center-post shades (these are from around 1938) that were widely distributed. (Rejuvenation archives)

While bead-chain shades were smaller and mostly used in bedrooms and other less formal spaces, by the end of the 1930s a strong demand had developed for larger and more elaborate center-post shades for use in living rooms and dining rooms, like these from Gill Glass & Fixture Co. in 1940 and Grahling Bros. in 1941. (Rejuvenation archives)

A selection of colorful bead-chains and center-posts from J.C. Virden in 1940 shows the typical use of soft tints, clear and painted glass, and both metal and metal/glass combinations on shades. (Rejuvenation archives)

Montgomery Ward certainly didn’t let Sears have all the fun –this 1941 spread captures the spirit and character of bead-chain fixtures as they were marketed for the modern bedroom, including “Wards Most Popular Bedroom Design.” (Rejuvenation archives)

“Why not replace those out-moded bedroom fixtures of yesteryears with your selection of one of these up-to-the-minute designs.”

These two spreads from 1942 – Beautilites from Lightolier and “Restful Bedroom Lighting” from J.C. Virden give a feel for the pre-war moment when the popularity of bead-chain and center-post shades was at its peak. (Rejuvenation archives)

Following the interruption of the war, economic recovery took a while and industry had to shift from military production back to the consumer market. When manufacturers like Moe Light did issue new catalogs, their offering was pretty much right where things had left off back in 1942. (Rejuvenation archives)

Porcelier’s all-porcelain fixtures in 1949 were a stylish and economical alternative during a period when manufacturers were still limited by materials shortages due to the war. The designs here are typical of the tastes of the day – traditional decorative patterns and vague ornamental motifs not directly related to any specific historical style or time period. The very early thin, bent-glass shade at the upper left is a hint at things to come. (Rejuvenation archives)

This 1954 spread from Sears has one foot in the past and one foot in the future (and one foot in the “novelty” kitsch, if you can have three feet) – perfectly capturing the competing trends of the early Mid-Century era. The widespread adoption of thin, bent-glass shades like at the upper right would put an end to pressed glass shades. (Rejuvenation archives)

These pages from Moe Light in 1955 herald the triumph of the new decorated bent-glass shades – there’s not a piece of pressed glass to be seen. They’ve tried to adapt bent glass to a bead-chain form at the upper right, but the writing was on the wall, and it said…

“Let’s just forget about pressed glass bead-chain and center-post shades for a generation or two, until your grandkids grow up and re-discover their sweet and charming style anew…”