Friday May 15, 2009
As I have been looking through images submitted to Preserve this week and files in my archive I have wondered is it time that old signage should actually be preserved physically and have protection orders placed on them so to protect them further. The signage in the image above (from Lockhart, Texas, USA taken by Cherie Benoit) to my thinking should be placed with a protection order. Not only is this advertising from days past a historic record of that time but also could now be considered as a work of art in its own right. It gives character to the building on which it is placed and the town that it occupies and is indeed an impressive thing to behold. Here in Christchurch New Zealand there are many fine examples of hand crafted painted signage, some from the early 1900s. Some developers have chosen, as buildings are changed, to protect old or original signage and work around them rather than destroy them. Perhaps we should, as these developers do, see a value in things of the past and protect them so that they may be part of the heritage of our cities.