Thursday, December 28, 2006

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Church Street detail 2


And this is who did it. Charles Barrett (Shopfitters) Ltd, 113 Camberwell New Road. I'll do some digging and see if I can find out who he is (there is a single mention of a Mr Charles Barrett of this address in an undated piece on the web, drawn from old newspaper clippings - but there'll be more than that somewhere...)

Church Street detail 1

Note especially the balls at the base of the J, the bottom of the S and the C; and the ledge separating the descender of the J from its bowl. The balls are slightly unwieldy, I think (to my untrained eye, the C looks too close to a G for comfort, and the S the wrong way up. Doesn't stop it being beautiful, though, and the claret/gold colour combination is very grand.

Church Street, London NW8


Apologies for the angle - there's an inconvenient road sign dead ahead of this. Original - the second detail image shows the name of the signwriters. The shop, like so many in Church Street, now sells antiques.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Shop Front, Roman Road, London E2

Well, here's satisfying. In a street of shop signs made of self-adhesive letters, neon signs and bad typography, here's a silver-on-black, probably 1920's(?) sign that's somehow survived - perhaps simply because it's beautiful.

They've even kerned the name, but not the numbers. There's attention to detail.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Telephone box, Millbank

A clear typographer's eye in the layout - hardly surprising since (now I'm home and can do some research) it's a variant of the K6 box designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and originally rolled out in 1936. It was blowing a gale when I took this, hence the slight shake on the image...

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Dedication stone, Mile End Road (detail)

Check out the linked 'OO' in POOR (top right). These two stones are well executed but not superb (the serifs and sizes vary slightly throughout) but this little decorative flourish tells us much about the playful pride of the mason. A lovely little touch.

Dedication Stone, Mile End Road

The full story of the building (a companion to the foundation stone two posts below), marking the original foundation of the building as a hospital for the sick poor and lying-in women in front of the burial ground of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation in 1663. Hard carved, 1913.

Foundation stone, Mile End Road (detail)


Detail from the foundation stone. If you look very carefully at the bottom right of the main picture, you can see "W.I. Maddison Builder", at a time when craftsmen went unrecognised, particularly in areas like the East End of London.

Foundation Stone, Mile End Road

Hand carved, 1913. The matching dedication stone is posted above.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

A work in progress...

I'm driving this thing off a Sony Ericsson K800i, so there'll be glitches until I manage to work everything out (which is, I tell you, going to take time: this thing's a bit like the deck of the Enterprise...).

I'll fill in the various sections and links as I learn how. And hopefully, the photos will get better as I get more used to the camera...

Harford St (detail)


Cookery? Why not kitchen? But this is what we want! Beautiful, careful work, well spaced, cute - if slightly mad - serifs; and a great descender on the R

Harford St


London E1

Stepney Public Library

t

Decoration above the main door, Stepney Public Library, Bancroft St, London, E1; because devices are as important as letters, and the ship, although a symbol for the local council, is delicately executed and has survived for 122 years.