Sign Preservation

Preserving, protecting and restoring ghost signs.

Conservation guidelines for ghostsigns in Australia

This report, Conserving Historic Signs, was written in 2002 and published by the Heritage Office, Department of Planning, State of New South Wales in 2006. I was alerted to it by Jos Peeters and it is a detailed and fascinating account of some of the considerations when conserving ghostsigns. The work on the HAT archive seems […]

16 Apr 2012
To paint or not to paint: preservation debate over Tempe ‘eyesore’

The ghostsigns on this flour mill have sparked debate over the desirability of a whitewashing as part of planned developments. In this article [Link expired], local architect Robert Graham makes the case for the ghostsigns: “To paint over these features would be like refinishing a treasured piece of antique furniture — it may make it look […]

29 Mar 2012
The beauty of cracking paint on Paris’ trompes l’oeil

Adam at Invisible Paris has written this blog post about the changing state of the city’s trompes l’oeil. This example in partticular caught my eye, the craking and peeling of the paint creating something new from something old. It is similar to the way that some ghostsigns deteriorate, with the paint sitting on the surface of […]

27 Mar 2012
Writing on the Wall working to preserve and restore ghostsigns in the Netherlands

This organisation in the Netherlands was established in 1999 and has been working ever since to raise the profile of hand painted wall advertising in the country. They also get involved with other outdoor forms such as hanging signs and neon advertisements, but the main focus is Ghostsigns, especially their restoration and protection. A lot […]

9 Mar 2012
Danville City Council defines rules for restoration of ghostsigns

Interesting piece of legislation reported here [Link expired, mention on p.41 here) from Danville City, California, including that “building owners…cannot recreate signs that have been painted over with other signs”, This must give preference to newer signs, assuming it is clear which came last… More on restoration and protection on the main blog.

3 Mar 2012
Now you see me, now you don’t: London’s elusive shop signs

Nice article here about the brief reveal, and more extended cover up, of some of London’s beautiful hand painted shop signs. In some ways they are being preserved, but they could be equally be showcased. They represent the skills of signwiters such as the contemporary Peter Hardwicke. Jane also covered a closely related topic in her account […]

29 Feb 2012
Can new Brickads Generate Income for Denver’s LoDo District? Discuss.

This popped up on twitter, considering the leasing of wall space as a means of generating income, community exposure and maintaining artistic heritage in LoDo, Denver. Lots of Collosal Media featured in addition to some lovely archive photography. I wonder if, with every new brickad that gets painted, something of the impact and novelty of […]

25 Feb 2012
RIP: Pressman’s Army & Navy Store

The Hoxsie blog reports the loss of this great sign from Troy, New York. This photo from carljohnson in particular adds a lot of character to the sign which still remains in part following structural work to the building. An ‘after’ photo is available here. See more ‘RIPs’ from this blog.

20 Jan 2012
Belgravia Ghost Sign Restored

Before (2006/7) After News in this week is that a restoration effort has been undertaken in the heart of London’s Belgravia. It has been directed at what was once a very faded sign for a horse infirmary (see two more of my pictures from c.2006/7 below). It was instigated by Belgravia Garage, as the infirmary sign […]

15 Jan 2012
Love Local Landmarks and the Hackney Society

To protect or not to protect? As I’ve discussed before, my interest in Ghostsigns started in my home borough of Hackney in London. The concentration of specimens in Stoke Newington intrigued me and I had to learn more about them. I was soon finding and photographing great examples not only in Hackney but across the […]

29 Oct 2011
Fresh lick of paint

I received an email this morning from a mural artist with an interest in working to restore/repaint Ghostsigns in the UK. She found me via a great project being run by the London Mural Preservation Society. I started drafting a response and then realised I’ve never written specifically about this topic and thought a blog […]

7 May 2011
London Mural Preservation Society

At last week’s Sign Design Society talk I met Ruth who has started an initiative aimed at raising awareness, researching, restoring and protecting the many hand painted murals that can be found dotted across the capital. These were generally initiated as community arts projects and Ruth has been tracking down the artists who once produced […]

10 Sep 2010
Street Art

sarflondondunc, ever alert to the gradual shifts in our Ghostsigns landscape, alerted me to this new piece of street art positioned on the great Boyd Pianos sign on Shacklewell Lane, Hackney. It’s by the Canadian artist Specter and is part of the ‘If I saw you in heaven’ project. This attempts to “address the issue of […]

11 Aug 2010
Jericho, Oxford Update

It seems that the threat to a couple of iconic signs in Oxford has passed, for the time being (see the story in the Oxford Mail). Following the tip off from Isisbridge late last year I talked briefly about the signs on the old blog. The lobby that galvanised around preserving the original building appears to […]

10 Feb 2010
Ancient Ghostsigns

Are these the oldest ghost signs in the world? Will at Naked came back from a trip to Italy where he visited the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum which were covered in volcanic ash for around 1,700 years following the eruption of mount Vesuvius in 79AD. While he was there he took these three fascinating […]

21 Jan 2010
Standard Fireworks (RIP)

Photo by robo2004 Destruction and demolition are no strangers to ghostsigns, as the expanding list of ‘obituaries’ documents. Recently news has reached me of one loss and another potentially on the horizon. These show why the work on the archive is important in preserving the last survivors of this lost art/craft form. First up is this […]

22 Dec 2009
H H stark (RIP)

Having only very recently featured in the montage for Travel & Transport I learn from sarflondondunc that this sign is no more. The building has been knocked down to make way for new flats (see 2007 status below). Another one bites the dust… Photo by sarflondondunc

31 May 2009
Landmarks Commission Update

Looks like the hearing was a success…depending on your stance regarding protection…

10 Sep 2008
Bovril Update

Alex sent me this photo of the remnants of a Bovril sign in the Redhill area. In much the same way as the Ekco sign that Duncan sent me, this sign appears to have been revealed during some recent construction work involving the demolition of the adjacent building or extension. This is a huge factor […]

26 Apr 2008
Restoration Debate in USA

The National Trust of Historic Preservation over in the USA features an article on their site discussing the debate over the preservation of Ghost Signs. This is particularly focussed on the question of whether there is a need to restore or repaint the signs to bring them some way back to their original form. Nothing […]

1 Feb 2008
Landmarks Commission Hearing

Debate over this site for a new painted wall advertisement Frank Jump over in NYC, USA recently presented the case, on behalf of Colossal Media, for the ‘overwriting’ of an old fading ghost sign with a new Colossal production. Presumably an application to do so is under consideration and the Landmarks Commission are deciding whether […]

25 Dec 2007
Hackney Council

In preparing an article for the Hackney Gazette a response came from the council as to what they’re doing to preserve old ads. In principal this is very positive, especially given the large number of signs in the borough (a rare double pictured). The following message came from Emma Britton, Media Officer, Hackney Council: Please […]

8 Oct 2007
Rise and Fall of Billboards

In response to my post on SmartWrap, Faris warned me to ‘beware the backlash’ and sent me a link to his blog which shows the following TV ad. It’s for Sky Movies, promoting the fact that their films are uninterupted by advertising and is inspired by the Brazilian billboard ban. An interesting construct which Faris […]

6 Oct 2007
Lambeth Council

Following the recent painting over of the Clapham North ‘Music Rolls‘ sign, Ocky got in touch with Kate Hoey, MP for Vauxhall to ask her what Lambeth Council are doing to preserve this signs. The response from Michael Copeman, via Councillor Peck, was as follows: Dear Kate Keith put exactly the same enquiry about […]

4 Oct 2007