National Lead Co.

Monday, August 13, 2007

National Lead Co.

This great old ad suffered major damage when the building owner cut a window hole through the area but otherwise left it intact. It's suffered some deterioration and fading over the years but still remains a nice example. View this on the corner of NW 13th and Glisan.

1996:

2006:

1 comment:

Jack said...: I've got to start taking note of the exact locations I see these things...I usually just bump into them while I'm wandering around, and say - "Hey, that's cool...". I also, very frustratingly, do not own a digital camera...

There's another old 'Dutch Boy' ad on a building in Downtown Portland...Southwest, 3 or 4 blocks from the 'Old Town' MAX station...I'm thinking like maybe SW 2nd & SW Stark, or thereabouts? It's on the south-facing side of a mid-rise building, viewable because the actual SW corner of that block is a vacant grassy-lot. It's pretty 'well-preserved', too. Just noticed that one yesterday morning, as I was huddled under an awning across the street, trying to stay dry for a minute. It was near a 'Taco del Mar', or something, if I'm not mistaken...; August 21, 2007 at 6:41 PM

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Introduction

Commercial buildings at one time were often the canvases for painted advertising signs. Unlike today's stick-on mega-posters advertising beer and soft drinks and mobile phones and cigarettes, a hundred years ago buildings were as likely to advertise their own business as they were commercial products like Coca-Cola and Dutch Boy Paints. Portland, Oregon, has a dwindling collection of buildings with faded lead-paint-on-brick advertising, sometimes called "ghost signs." One once-rich source, the former "Northwest Industrial Triangle," has undergone a dramatic revitalization and is now known as the Pearl District. This means many of its old buildings with ads have fallen to redevelopment, buildings have been cleaned up and the ads removed, or, in a few cases, the ads have been the victims of graffiti damage.

Many buildings are clustered around the Thirteenth Avenue Historic District but these are posted in no geographically coherent pattern. Use my map below to orient yourself and take a little walking tour.

My original intent with this blog was to cover only the Pearl district, an area I had taken pictures of in 1996-97 and could compare then and now. I've since expanded to other areas of central Portland. I plan to eventually cover these geographic areas:
- Pearl District (done)
- Northwest (west of I-405) (done)
- Old Town/Chinatown (done)
- Downtown (done)
- Southeast (done)
- Northeast (done)
- North (done)

Unless otherwise noted, all photos are mine and cannot be used without permission.

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Monday, August 13, 2007

National Lead Co.

1 comment:

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