Two former city art students have made it their mission to catalogue Glasgow’s ghost signs with a view to telling the stories behind them and encourage their preservation for future generations.
As part of the Ghost Signs of Glasgow project, Jan Graham and Merryn Kerrigan have been busy for the past three years building up a database of around 100 fading signs from across the city and stitching together the fascinating histories attached to them.
The initiative, which was launched thanks to funding from Glasgow City Heritage Trust, aims to develop an interactive map that will enable locals to add in their own examples of ghostly signage.
Later this month, in conjunction with Doors Open Day 2021, Jan and Merryn will be leading a walking tour featuring some of Glasgow’s most prominent ghost signs, and are organising a sign-painting workshop in partnership with the Women’s Type Foundry, of which Merryn is a co-founder, where people can quite literally try their hands at making signs using the manual methods of yesteryear.
A roaming exhibition of ghost signage, which is currently on display at Rogart Street Campus in Bridgeton, will move to Arlington Baths Club on 24 September, before appearing over the course of 2022 at Tenement House, Maryhill Burgh Halls, and at an as yet unidentified location in Glasgow’s South Side.
Speaking to Glasgow Live, project co-coordinator, Jan Graham, says she first became interested in the ghost signs project while at the Glasgow School of Art studying Environmental Art.
She says the “ephemeral” nature of ghost signs and the recent fire on the High Street, that resulted in demolition of the city’s historic Old College Bar, underlines the importance of the project.
Jan said: “One of the signs mapped pre-pandemic, now lost, was the sign for F W Holroyd, on the familiar ‘Art Gallery’ building at the corner of High Street and George Street.
“The building, which was also home to the historic Old College Bar, fell victim to another Glasgow fire, and the block was demolished this year.
“Frederick William Holroyd had started his family business in 1912, based originally in Virginia Arcade, the old tobacco and spice exchange - now known as Virginia Court - selling goods such as linoleum, carpets and gas mantles, before the days of electric light bulbs.
“In 1972, his grandson took over the business and opened the gallery at the corner of George Street and High Street.”
It was at art school that Jan Graham says she and Merryn became acquainted with the fading signage for the Sick Children’s Dispensary - a reminder of the crushing poverty and high child mortality rate of Victorian Glasgow.
Jan said: “One of the ghost signs from the project archive we’re most familiar with, is the one that is on the Glasgow School of Art Campus, on West Graham Street, that housed the Environmental Art Department.
“It’s for the Sick Children’s Dispensary from 1888, a time when Glasgow had one of the highest infant mortality rates in Europe.
“Thanks to charitable donations the Sick Children’s Dispensary was built to treat as many children as possible without having to admit them to hospital.
“It’s a ghost sign we'd see often while we were at art school.”
With existing examples around the city constantly at risk of either being covered up or lost completely, Jan says she applauds those who take measures to preserve ghost signs.
Recent years have seen a rise in the number of ghost signs being preserved, with many business owners keen to keep elaborate old signage on show.
The planned opening this year of an Italian café, Cibo, near Queen’s Park, has uncovered the signage for a much older shop, coincidentally called the Italian Warehouse, that dates back to the 1920s.
Jan, who is also co-founder of SaltSpace Cooperative, an artist-led studio and gallery space in the city centre, added: “The main thing the ghost signs project does is bring awareness of the rich history involved in the city’s fading signage.
“There are differing opinions on how to preserve ghost signage and whether or not certain examples should be preserved.
“There is something quite special about holding on to something that is dear to the community, and brownie points are on offer for those who take that decision.”
