2014 November 05 – Fading Ad Blog

The Omega Oil sign in New York. Often these adverts are hidden for decades by buildings, billboards or trees – reappearing briefly during a construction project, before they are destroyed forever. Photograph: Frank Jump

Nick Gadd – Wednesday 5 November 2014 04.56 EST

Melbourne- They’ve just knocked down an unremarkable little building on Latrobe Street, Melbourne, so they can throw up an apartment block – sorry, an “iconic 43-storey residential tower with a jewel box podium”. When the old building went down, it revealed the words “Paragon Printers” in fading paint on an adjacent brick wall. But not for long: the next time I passed, that wall had gone too, revealing another wall behind it, with a vibrant blue sign bearing the words “Henry Richardson, Saw Maker and Importer”. For a few days Richardson’s name was visible, as it had been 60 or so years earlier. Soon after, the site was nothing but rubble, and now that iconic tower is on its way.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Ghost signs from around the world