Protection

Moving Walls to Save a Ghost Sign

In an effort to save this fading and rusting shop front, Beth and Tony Walls moved the entire building 150ft to allow for a highway widening project. Martin Garfinkel of Roadside Gallery has captured it beautifully in this fine art print, available to buy here. Martin tells the story as follows. RE Ringer General Merchandise, […]

14 Mar 2014

Anarchy on the Walls: Ghostsigns, Street Art & Graffiti

Kasey Smith’s ‘Perception Filter‘ blog is well worth a follow for all ghostsigns enthusiasts. Her dispatches from San Francisco have been a big influence on me, as evidenced by the number of times I’ve decided to highlight her observations, insights, investigations and mapping efforts here on Ghostsigns. Her latest post concerns the work above by artist Augustine […]

27 Oct 2013

Ghost of the British Legion in Ypres, Belgium

This intriguing English-language ghostsigns is found in Ypres, Belgium, and has been identified for protection given its historical significance. I was alerted to it by regular correspondent, Daniel Lohmann, who has also done a bit of digging into this unusual ghostsign specimen. Firstly is the ghostsign itself and an explanation for it’s language, location and […]

18 Aug 2013

Local Listed Status for Hackney Ghost Signs

Love Local Landmarks, an English Heritage-backed project, has been successful in gaining local listing status for two of Hackney’s most famous ghostsigns. The Blooms Piano sign (above) and the Waterman’s Fountain Pen sign on Stoke Newington Church Street have both been recognised for their “Aesthetic or Artistic” merit, and also for their historical significance. The […]

12 May 2013

A novel approach to ghostsign conservation from Vancouver

This ghostsign for the Little Theatre in Vancouver is the subject of a unique preservation effort prompted by the efforts of the Grandview Heritage Group. In response to a letter sent to the developers currently at work on the building they have been told that two actions will be taken to preserve the sign. First […]

17 Nov 2012

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

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

More Vancouver Ghostsigns and related article

Following this post on the main blog I stumbled across this small collection of Vancouver ghostsigns and a link to this article [Link expired] where some of the local heritage and conservation issues are discussed.  The situation in that respect is very similar to that in the UK.  (A variety of blog post related to […]

28 Feb 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

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

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

Ghost Signs, The Archive

[The following blog post was written in March 2009 and signified the start of the effort to create a Ghostsigns Archive. This has been realised with the archive opening for business on 19th March 2010. Visit this page for more information.] So, what’s this new look banner on the blog? It’s the start of a […]

21 Mar 2009

Landmarks Commission Update

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

10 Sep 2008

French Connection

I’ve just recently returned from five weeks in the south of France, hence the lack of Ghost Sign news since late June.  It looks like Frank Jump was also doing something similar recently and details of my trip last year are here. Just before I left Caroline tipped me off about a Ghost Signs ‘convention’ […]

10 Sep 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

Save this sign…

  Ross sent me this photo which is of an old metallic sign that is currently free to take for anyone who has the necessary tools. His message follows: “It’s within plastic barriers for an excavation in the pavement but I pulled it out of a pile of rubble so I think it’ll get thrown […]

24 Jan 2008

Living St Louis

This video from Jim Kirchherr from the Living St Louis series is a nice introduction to some of the signs from that city and touches on a number of the key aspect of the signs, their history and preservation. It also features a brief interview with William Stage, the athor of the most definitive book […]

19 Jan 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

The Post (18th October)

Kathryn passed me this, which appears to have come as a follow up to the recent piece in the South London Press.  The article talks about the Streatham Society trying to get this great Portogram sign protected and also features the question to Mayor Ken again. I’ve tried to get in touch wth John Brown […]

10 Nov 2007

Hackney Gazette

Yesterday (11th October) the Hackney Gazette did a nice spread on the project.  I had a few photos taken for this, some of them very cheesy, so I was quite pleased with their eventual selection. It was great to see some more of my pictures in print, especially those that are most local to me. […]

12 Oct 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