justforview

A few more ghost signs around the neighborhood and downtown

The Belmont Cafe building and sign being demolished to make room for a parking lot

Rosco’s on-site sign appears to be repainted recently, but the storefront is closed

I am curious of the date of this huge Paramount Vodka sign

Need Money see WILL is vine covered

Rugs, Baking: Downtown off fourth

Hard to get a shot of this one along Vine

Detail of the above sign’s type

More layers than I can decipher

The boundary between the built and natural environment is a tenuous one. They are inseparable. Even in heavily built areas the natural processes of growth and decay are evident if you look close enough.

There is a sort of continuum between natural and built environments The Urban Wilderness is the space where natural processes and built form are clearly integrated. Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine have an infinite number of these areas. Exploring them is to experience the dynamic between the two environments and the evolution of the city.

These photos are from an area in OTR where the public right of way and infrastructure has been almost completely overgrown with the urban forest.

Alleys are an important element in urban design. While they rarely still serve the technical functions they were intended to serve they offer a unique perspective of what is happening, and has happened, at the margins of the urban experience.

I always thought that one of the best things about living in downtown Indianapolis was the alleys. I loved knowing the shortcuts, but also they had this really pedestrian sense to them. In contrast to the large boulevards of the grid iron streets downtown the alleys provided a bit of refuge and at the same time some pleasant surprises. It is always easy to spot interesting architectural details, historic paving and public infrastructure or discarded belongings, art, furniture and other items in alleyways.

OTR has some great ones too. Unfortunately many have been separated from the rest of street network and public space because of an exploitation of their best qualities. Hopefully one day the eyes on the street will enable them to become part of the urban fabric again. Until then here are a few shots of some that remain open and have been terminated at some point or another.

Outdoor advertisements that have been allowed to fade are commonly referred to as ghost signs. The term carries with it more or less specific qualities, but in general they are hand painted and were made in the first half of the 20th century and earlier before most cities started heavily regulating the outdoor advertising industry.

They are an important representation of the commercial graphic arts of the time and even though they have become obsolete they survive as reminders to what once was. They speak to the social, economic and physical character of the past and the time that has passed. Viewing them in their contemporary context often provides an interesting juxtaposition.

Cincinnati and OTR in particular is filled with these. While they may be interesting from a visual perspective alone, they are also significant contributors to the historic character of a place. There patina cannot be emulated. Only time can create the story that they tell, the sense that they give us.

While hand painted signage is still created in OTR and other neighborhoods there is a significant difference in the scale, placement, quality and techniques of ghost signs. I am a fan of both old and new, but want to see more efforts to identify exceptional examples that may merit some degree of preservation effort.

along McMicken in OTR

In doing some reading for a course on historic preservation I came across some quotes that seemed relevant to the discussions that have been happening on this site. I decided to post a few, not to digress, but to illustrate that these things are not unique to OTR and that they could be much worse.

They are from Tung’s Preserving the World’s Great Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis.

The last chapter considers The City is a Living Museum “of human cultural evolution- helping us to understand why various societies are different, how distinct places fostered singular accomplishments, and what is universal to the human experience.”

It goes on to talk about the context of preservation strategy…

“Yet this project can not be divorced from a larger development strategy that results in politically motivated acts of territorial expropriation.”

This is used to refer to all large cities, and Jerusalem in particular where…

“Restoration is justification [for the] seizure of disputed land”

The happy ending makes it all worthwhile.

“By thinking of the city as an interactive educational experience subject to interpretative presentation, we may enhance our critical grasp of material culture that surrounds us, alter our collective understanding of the city as a whole, and change the way we see its future.”

I am certainly not a preservation purist. A mismatch of historical and contemporary elements creates a more critical read of the environment. I also prefer patina to fresh paint. Antiquity has more impact on me than nostalgia. It may be ugly to some, but cities are good at providing for most aesthetic tastes.

Based on my aesthetic preferences alone I was unhappy to see this old mid century sign replaced by the new sign. It really spoke to what this place once was. The new sign certainly speaks to what this place is becoming. What should the middle ground between past and future look like, more past, more present? Or, just as important maybe is which past, which future?