Noticing the presence of “ghost signs” – fading, sometimes barely legible painted commercial signage, typically from the Victorian period – is one of the pleasures available to the attentive flâneur. We recently spotted one on Cloudesley Road, in Islington, during our travels in N1.
Londonist have collected ten fine examples here.
We were pleased with the results we achieved following the redecoration of this large bedroom in an Edwardian house in south London.
Several of the windows in the house featured attractive arched panes, a form of detailing found in many period houses in London.
Perhaps your eye has once or twice been drawn to the incredibly thin and beautifully elegant pointing on a handsome Georgian building in London?
The technique which yields this appearance — bearing the wonderful name of tuckpointing — is an illusion…
Tuckpointing is a way of using two contrasting colours of mortar in the mortar joints of brickwork, one colour matching the bricks themselves, to give an artificial impression that very fine joints have been made.
You can see the contrast between the more common weather struck pointing on the left, and tuckpointing on the right, here:
And here is an image which illustrates the care and skill involved in the deception…
Should you wish to add another brick to the foundations of your pub quiz knowledge, 10 Downing Street features tuckpointing…
These images show the appearance — after more than a century — of the lovely, if occasionally higgledy-piggledy, brickwork on a late Victorian chimney breast.
The second image shows the brickwork prior to the removal of the lime plaster stuck to its surface, the last shows the clarity and definition brought about by cleaning the bricks and raking out the mortar.
These images show the appearance — after more than a century — of the lovely, if occasionally higgledy-piggledy, brickwork on a late Victorian chimney breast.
The second image shows the brickwork prior to the removal of the lime plaster stuck to its surface, the last shows the clarity and definition brought about by cleaning the bricks and raking out the mortar.
