New York City Street Signs History

From the look magazine photo archive comes this photograph taken by philip harrington in 1962 showing the street signs at the intersection of nassau and pine streets.

Street city lights drawing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the rss 20 feed. New york city street signs new york city turn of the century random signage union square west. New street is ironically among the citys oldest built by the dutch in 1679.

To raise historical awareness the city allows street name signs with brown backgrounds in areas that are officially designated as historic districts by the new york city landmarks preservation commission. The 29 crosstown streets are each 10 to 11 blocks long 1st ave. George balanchine way in 1990 a segment of west 63rd street near the new york state theatre was renamed george balanchine way after the founder of the new york city ballet.

This site intends to survey all of the signs in new york city from 14th street to 42nd street. Times square sign by pio3. In 2013 new york city began to change street signs that have been previously used highway gothic font for a new one clearview that include both upper and lower case letters which is considered more readable.

Each street name tells a story and its not always one you may expect. In new york city street name signs account for only 19 of the millions of signage in the five boroughs. Every street sign you see on every corner and intersection in nyc has a history to it.

Of course this is not possible since there would be tens of thousands of signs within this area. What happened to those old street signs. To 11th or 12th aves.

Besides letting us know where we are there are facts about the history of nyc street signs that may surprise. Residents and visitors most often remain oblivious to these artifacts of new york citys history and culture dating back to the 17th century when the earliest city maps were made. This entry was posted on october 15 2008 at 448 am and is filed under midtown random signage union square.

Los angeles and san francisco started in the 1970s and recently new york city has introduced the bigger signs at its intersections. Great jones street samuel jones the father of the new york bar greene street nathanael greene american revolutionary war hero. In 1793 systematic house numbering and street signs known as direction boards for.

Street signage in new york city today is an amalgamation of modern day standardization and references to historical styles. New york city has several examples of these variations.