by 407gwr » Sun Mar 12, 2017 10:16 pm
Hello,
We're the new occupier for 407 Great Western Road (Maison Dorelle). The signs are beautiful, they're on very thick board and use gold flake and a layer of wax to seal the sign. We think they're 1890s-1910s, but haven't been able to find anything on the company. One passerby said she remembers the shop back in the 1960s as a very upmarket clothing shop.
It's certainly been a lot of things since - the sign board on top of this had many layers of paint on it!
The shutters on the shop (there were also shutters IN the shop) were put on in 1993 when it became a gun shop.
After much debating, we've decided to cover up the old sign boards and seal them from the weather. We were looking at keeping them up and trying to let them co-exist with our branding, but we couldn't visualise it working. But they're not being painted over or removed.