Classic works of art that once lined so many streets in the USA. The utilities wanted to enhance the streets and used fixtures such as this to do exactly that.

Now, most of the "decorative" street lights are the same bland ones you see everywhere.

From a photometric point of view these decorative luminaires were total garbage (nice looking garbage that is). Unfortunately, nowadays we seem to focus mostly on performance at the expense of the visual appeal of luminaires. A good balance between form and function is what we really need.