Plymouth
Former South Western Railway Offices,
Listed Grade II
'Borin, I spotted this fantastic example of lettering in Plymouth,
above Mayflower gifts, near to The Barbican on the quay side. Various
pics attached which you might need to lighten etc – looking on Google
street view it appears that it was in a worse state (the source date on
the image is April 2015) which implies it has been restored recently.
Also a rather nice lamp jutting out from first floor. -Andrew Smith'
(2016).
2016 images ![Ipswich Historic Lettering: Plymouth 2](plymouth2.jpg)
Many thanks to Andrew for
recording this building; the 'retouching' of historic signs is
contentious – they're probably best left in their original state.
We see similar treatments of signs in Beccles ('Smith &
Easthaugh') and Colchester ('Charles Brown & Sons') where, frankly,
the original sign has been destroyed. Clearly the Grade
II listing didn't deter the owners from repainting the signs.
'SOUTH
WESTERN
RAILWAY
OFFICES'
![Ipswich Historic Lettering: Plymouth 4](plymouth4.jpg)
The use of extended cartouch panels throughout is inventive:
'LONDON SOUTH WESTERN RLY.
RECEIVING OFFICE FOR GOODS
AND PARCELS TO ALL PARTS'
![Ipswich Historic Lettering: Plymouth 5](plymouth5.jpg)
Searching for this building on the web reveals some very pale,
weathered signs in 2012, which had been re-lettered at some point in
the past.
The London & South Western Railway reached Sutton Harbour at The
Barbican in 1878.