telephone wire Archives

I wrote an article a few weeks ago about horrendous wire rat nests of death across the world — and almost a week later, I found an article with photos of turn of the century wire rat nests of death, wires above cities, but with a beauty about them — progress photographed and frozen in time. It’s a shame that in many parts of the world the technology and safety aspects of giving everyone modernity haven’t quite met on the timeline yet.

You have to see these photos, it’s like looking at luck being doled out to the masses. Remember old knob and tube wiring from underneath so many of our homes and buildings? We had this stuff under our house, and it sits there still — disconnected of course and replaced by some modern distribution (Romex), but it was the source of electricity in millions of homes across America for decades.

Knob and Tube wiring

Check this out:

Holy shit. This particular image below reminds me of another image…

Nightmare of wiring in Phuket

These two guys above here are just having a good old time with some wire. You know, wire brothers.

70-foot telephone grids. 70 feet. Made of wire and wood from the turn of the century.

Elegant, no? There is a grandness about images like this, systems like this that were built not only to serve, but to serve as something aesthetically pleasing while being practical.