Ghost sign

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Ghost sign for a defunct clothing store in Salem, Massachusetts

A ghost sign is an old hand-painted advertising signage that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time. The signage may be kept for its nostalgic appeal, or simply indifference by the owner.

[edit] Preservation

They are found across the world with the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada having many surviving examples.^[1] Ghost signs are also called fading ads^[2] and brickads.^[3] In many cases these are advertisements painted on brick that remained over time.^[4] Old painted advertisements are occasionally discovered upon demolition of later-built adjoining structures.

Many ghost signs still visible are from the 1890s to 1960s.^[4] Such signs were most commonly used in the decades before the Great Depression.^[5]

As signage advertising formats changed, less durable signs appeared in the later 20th century, and ghost signs from that era are less common.

In a New York Times article on ghost signs, Kathleen Hulser of the New York Historical Society, said, "[The signs] evoke the exuberant period of American capitalism. Consumer cultures were really getting going and there weren't many rules yet, no landmarks preservation commission or organized community saying: 'Isn't this awful? There's a picture of a man chewing tobacco on the corner of my street.'"^[5]

Several people maintain websites devoted to ghost signs.^[5]