Walking down Lombard Street in London, the historic business signs stand out. A throwback to times when literacy was the province of the elite. Towering above is the new office tower of 20 Fenchurch Street, dubbed the Walkie Talkie, due to its distinctive shape. There’s a marked contrast between the clean fresh white lines of the Walkie-Talkie building as it towers over the brown stone buildings of Lombard Street.
Ancient signs hanging where they have hung for decades, centuries in some cases. For the time before reading was common and traders required more visual advertisement for their businesses. I love them all but the sculptural ones in particular. That anchor, with its twisting coiled rope, set against the perfect geometry of the modern intruder, towering like Gulliver over a Lilliputian landscape. It’s angle conveys a sense of friendly curiosity as it looks down at the perfect miniature world below.
What would the people who created the signs all those years ago make of the gigantic interloper? As alien a world as there could be to people of that time.
The Walkie Talkie is not complete, the photo taken as a final pieces were put into place.
The View give a sense of vertigo as you gaze upwards but still can’t quite see it stop. A gleaming edifice with bold stripes. Or are they checks? Is there a white and blue tartan? Contrast it’s neat angular lines with the arches and swirls of the buildings below. Detail after detail is hinted at. Some signs drawn with clarity others blur into the background. Stones arc up over doorways and Windows. Brackets are as elaborate as a signs they display. The road, crooked, bends the corner and you can make out a clock hidden behind the castle sign. Other symbols are too indistinct to make out. With so many details, it’s hard to pick out a favourite.
I’ve also painted the Golden Locust trade sign also on the same street, or is it a grasshopper? I took several photographs at the time and managed to find a position where these signs were visible with the Walkie Talkie Building in the background. I love the way the curve of the building makes it seem to peer over and the mix of ancient and contemporary.
Finally the colours, muted browns and reds against an indigo sky. Hints of colour and the shine on that green roof. Lots of blooms and trails intermingled with a myriad of doors, rails and windows rails on Windows.
