Ghost sign

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Old painted advertisement on a building

title: "Ghost sign" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["advertising-by-medium", "painting", "signage"] description: "Old painted advertisement on a building" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_sign" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Old painted advertisement on a building ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Biles_Beans_sign_York_2012.jpg" caption="Ghost sign advertising [[Bile Beans]] in [[York]], England"] ::

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

History and preservation

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Eddys_Ghost_sign_before.jpg" caption="Ghost sign for Eddy's Bread in [[Helena, Montana]], before 2012 restoration"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Eddys_Ghost_sign_after.jpg" caption="Ghost sign for Eddy's Bread, after restoration"] ::

Ghost signs are found across the world with the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada having many surviving examples. Ghost signs are also called fading ads or brickads. In many cases these are advertisements painted on brick that remained over time. Old painted advertisements are occasionally discovered upon demolition of later-built adjoining structures. Throughout rural areas, old barn advertisements continue to promote defunct brands and quaint roadside attractions.

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

::quote [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." ::

The painters of the signs were called "wall dogs". As signage advertising formats changed, less durable signs appeared in the later 20th century, and ghost signs from that era are less common.

Ghost signs were originally painted with oil-based house paints. The paint that has survived the test of time most likely contains lead, which keeps it strongly adhered to the masonry surface. Ghost signs were often preserved through repainting the entire sign since the colors often fade over time. When ownership changed, a new sign would be painted over the old one.

In 2013, conservators undertook an effort to preserve ghost signs in Philadelphia.

In the city of Detroit, well-preserved ghost signs have been uncovered when an adjoining building is demolished as part of the city's blight-fighting efforts.

Gallery

File:Glasgow. Renfrew Street. Ghost sign.jpg|Sign in Renfrew Street, Glasgow (Scotland) File:Goerlitz Fassade 1 Brautwiesenstraße.jpg|Former Kaffee-Ausschank, Görlitz (Germany) File:Pewex-reklama na budynku w Lodzi.jpg|Pewex advertisement, Łódź (Poland) File:Newmark's Ghost Sign.jpg|Sign for a defunct clothing store in Salem, Massachusetts (USA) File:New York kávéház. Fortepan 2033.jpg|Former Kaffee-New York, Transylvania (Romania) File:Anciennes publicités murales superposées formant un palimpseste, Avenue Pasteur, Paris.jpg|Old advertisements forming a "palimpsest", Paris (France) File:Launceston D Ritchie & Son Millers Ghost Sign.JPG|Sign for "David Ritchie & Son. Millers", Launceston, Tasmania (Australia) File:Ghost sign MR Masło Poznań.jpg|Ghost sign for MR Masło, a butter brand, in Poznań, Poland. The caption reads "Eat plant butter" File:Pub murale Margarines Solo - Binche - 2025-01-26.jpg|Ghost sign for Solo-branded margarine covered by a modern billboard, in Binche, Belgium. File:Levi Strauss sign.JPG|Levi Strauss & Co. sign in Woodland, California File:Old sign of a liquor shop in Kashihara, Japan.jpg|Old sign for a liquor shop in Kashihara, Japan (right) File:Old sign for Tsubai Market, Nara, Japan.jpg|Old sign for Tsubai Market, Nara, Japan File:Old advertisement for a pocari drink in Lukang, Changhua, Taiwan.jpg|Old advertisement for a pocari drink in Lukang, Taiwan

References

References

  1. (2017). "Advertising and Public Memory: Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Ghost Signs". Routledge.
  2. "Ghost Signs - A Waymarking.com Category".
  3. see [https://www.fadingad.com Fading Ad Gallery]
  4. see [http://www.ghostsigns.co.uk Ghost Signs]
  5. "Défense D'Af: Faux Ghostsign from John Downer".
  6. [http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2001/07/09/newslocal/export25554.txt Ghost signs: Old slogans never die in Butte...], [[The Montana Standard]] ([[Butte, Montana]]). August 9, 2001. Accessed September 6, 2007.
  7. Stage, Wm.. (1989). "Ghost Signs: Brick Wall Signs in America". Floppinfish Pub Co..
  8. Joseph Berger. "[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E6DF143EF936A35752C1A9639C8B63 Fading Memories]". ''New York Times''. November 5, 2005. Retrieved on October 5, 2009.
  9. Genovese, Peter. (March 30, 2012). "Ghost signs: Jersey's commercial history is written large in faded paint on city buildings". The Star-Ledger.
  10. Matheson, Kathy. (May 12, 2013). "Painters brush new life into Philadelphia's 'ghost signs'". [[Associated Press]].
  11. Allen, Robert. "'Ghost signs' expose Detroit's faded history".
  12. Barry, Dan. (January 23, 2012). "In a City Fighting Blight, 'Ghost Signs' as Portals to a Bygone Era". The New York Times.

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