Boathouse Row lights: What to expect when they flip the switch

Boathouse Row lights preview ahead of iconic Philly landmark relighting

Philadelphia’s iconic Boathouse Row lights return Thursday, after an entire year of going dark for maintenance and FOX 29 got a sneak peak of the changes and upgrades.

FAIRMOUNT - The moment Philadelphia has been waiting for – the lights on Boathouse Row are about to return. Tara Rasheed, with the Fairmount Park Conservancy, is giving FOX 29 a sneak peak of the restoration.

"We are really excited to finally bring this iconic Philadelphia site back," she said. "The Fairmount Park Conservancy is really excited, after 12 months, to be lighting the lights on Boathouse Row."

The Conservancy, in partnership with Philadelphia Parks and Rec, teamed up to give Boathouse Row a $2.1 million glow up, replacing and upgrading the previous light system. The project removed exterior lighting, plagued with frequent outages.

"We’ve removed those from existing lights and re-installed new lights with a more robust housing, which will give us a Boathouse Row that will be lit for many years to come," Rasheed remarked. "We’re excited that we have 6,400 individual LED lights on channels mounted to trim, stucco roofing of each of the boathouses."

The lights on Boathouse Row were originally introduced in 1979, upgraded to LED in 2005 and the last upgrade was eight years ago.

It took an all-hands-on-deck approach, including Jonathan Hoyle with The Lighting Practice.

"What worked there, how is the technology changed," Hoyle explained. "How can I use a new technology and the site-specific conditions to really do something that is best for the boat houses."

"These custom light strings are capable of 16 million color combinations. The new system is also capable of having twinkling lights," Rasheed added.

The process of fixing and upgrading the Boathouse Row lights also gave the opportunity for the individual houses to do some of the deferred maintenance that they haven’t been able to do, so Boathouse Row is expected to be lit up well for the next 15 to 20 years.

"These new installations with the robust channels give it a bit more protection and consolidated connection points will allow us to do more frequent maintenance," Rasheed said. "This is really a new fixtures system throughout all of the 10 structures and the 12 boat houses of Boathouse Row."

A quintessential Philly landmark finally making a comeback.