The Hidden Lettering of St
Helen's Street
Around 2008
Ipswich Borough Council put up rather
attractive fencing around two sets of flats in Woodbridge Road (above
Blanche Street) and Argyle Street/St Helen's Street. This would be
unremarkable if it wasn't for a piece of hidden lettering in a section
of the fence with closely barred and shaped rods, set at 45 degrees on
the juction of Argyle Street and St Helens Street. The images above
viewed straight on and at a slight angle are unexceptional. Drivers
queuing down Argyle Street during the inordinate hold-ups during the
rush-hour are probably the most likely to spot:
'IBH'
in the
grille, but you have to be at the right angle
from either side.
What is
most surprising is both that the designer took
the trouble (presumably he or she was commissioned by Ipswich Borough
Housing) and that it works so well in a bold serif font: all achieved
by slight tweaks and flattening in the vertical bars. Clever, eh?
It is possible that many people walk past and don't see this lettering
regularly - always an attraction for this website - and the streams of
high speed traffic on this junction distract passers-by as they try to
ensure (a) their own survival and (b) safe passage across the road.
For more examples of lettering in Argyle Street, try Ipswich Board School and Harry Seaman; for more in St Helens Street
try County Hall, H.W. Turner, Tramway Place, Hales Chemist and The Regent. Whether this qualifies as
'Historic Lettering' as billed by the title
of this website or not, it perhaps joins 'The
Mill' lettering as newly
arrrived, but here to stay for a while...
Mike O'Donovan trumps this lettering with 'ITFC' in precisely the same
wrought iron technique: "You may be interested in the attached photos
which I took at the Sir Alf Ramsey Way just off Portman Road. They seem
to be only viewable at an angle." We don't get round that way too much
as we're not interested in football (heresy!) however, for the
uninitiated 'ITFC' stands for Ipswich Town Football Club. 'Portman
Road' is an expression much more associated with the sports stadium in
Ipswich (see also 'The Kop', 'Whiteheart Lane' etc.) than the original meaning of the twelve 'capital portmen'
to represent/govern the inhabitants under the borough charter given to
Ipswich by King John in 1200.
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©2004
Copyright
throughout the Ipswich
Historic Lettering site: Borin Van Loon
No reproduction of text or images without express written permission