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Donovan Bros, Spitalfields
Owners of our book can find this famous sign’s story on page 60. I’ve now supplemented this with some additional archival photography that we were unable to include in the final publication.
Liverpool’s Cock Tugs
There was sniggering aplenty when I shared this picture on social media. However, it ‘aroused’ curiosity in equal measure. The wise folks of twitter were quick to identify the ‘cocks’ as a series of tug boats branded as male birds, including: Gamecock; Blackcock; Stormcock; Seacock; Flyingcock. So now you know.
The Onion of History
This palimpsest was one of the toughest to crack while writing Ghost Signs: A London Story. It’s a good example of the incongruity between effort and output for what resulted in one page (number 133) in the book. On the blog, I’ve shared a bit more of the process, including recreations of each of the three layers present on the panel.
Medley in Malmö
Thank you to Al Butterworth for sharing this 2014 photo with me. It looks like the signs have been repainted at some point and there are some lovely details. Note the use of the vertical space for the wine bottle, and just under that the word ‘Skyltfabrik’ which means sign factory, and was that of Christenson & Co.
Inn Signs Exhibition
A surprise cultural ‘hit’ in 1936 London was the Inn Signs Exhibition at The Building Centre on New Bond Street. With echoes of The Grand Exhibition of the Society of Sign Painters, minus the tongue in cheek, it was a huge show. The photo above is from Whitbread’s 1948 Inn-Signia book, and The Building Centre has a copy of the catalogue in PDF form.
Holland-America Line
Repainting ghost signs is a hotly-debated topic, but I’ve now seen a handful of examples where a more subtle approach has been taken. The above photo was taken after work to re-touch the sign in Santander. Santatipo has a ‘before’ photo and a free download of his graphic recreation of the original sign.
Articles of Note
Building again on the post about old posters in Underground/Metro stations, see Ghost stations of Barcelona’s metro and the historic underground shopping center.
Alistair Hall, author of the Brilliant London Street Signs, has taken a deep dive into London street name fonts.
Woolwich’s forgotten Furlongs garage set for heritage listing, and some of the surviving painted signage may be included in the process.
Blast from the Past
I’ve written hundreds of blog posts and it’s easy to forget the older ones. I was lucky to have just become interested in ghost signs to see this one revealed back in 2007. We deal with its story in the book, including the short-lived art installation that was temporarily pasted over part of it.
Top of the Tweets
I trawl the ‘feed’ so that you don’t have to. You can follow and tag me here.
An imperial ghost sign.
Still smoking in Spokane.
More goodness saved on London’s Underground.
A long-lost beauty from the archive.
Red Hackle unshackled in Glasgow.