A ghost sign is a term for old hand painted advertising or signage that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time, whether by actively keeping it or choosing not to destroy it.
Here are a few of my favourites from a recent Boards.ie thread.
The old Lennox Chemicals HQ on Leinster Street South.
“Lennox Chemicals was founded in 1923. The company came to bear the name of Robert Lennox who served as Managing Director from 1923 until this death in 1936. Originally located at Great Strand Street, Lennox moved to South Leinster Street in 1937 and on to John F. Kennedy Estate just off the Naas Road in 1983”
Photo Credit - 'Wishbone Ash'
An old sign for Switzers Department Store (1834 – 1993) above the Brown Thomas Wicklow Street entrance.
Photo Credit - "Wishbone Ash"
The old Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society building on Palace Street, around the corner from Dublin Castle. Apparently it is Dublin’s shortest street with only two addresses.
Photo Credit - "Wishbone Ash"
Along the bottom of this building on the corner of Upper Camden Street and Harrington Street you can see the old sign for Kelly’s Cigar Bounder – Tobacco Blender. Though the shop has well since closed, the area is still commonly known as Kelly’s Corner. The building was raided and destroyed (using hand grenades) by Captain J.C. Bowen-Colthurst of the British Army during the Easter Rising in 1916.
Photo Credit - "Wishbone Ash"
The old sign for The Shakespeare above the Korean restaurant and pub The Hop House where the CHTM team frequent most weekends. My dad used to drink here when he went to Colaiste Mhuire in Parnell Square around the corner.
Photo Credit - "Jay Carax"
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Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
Great entry…but makes me miss Dublin a lot 😦
Great idea! There’s loads more – the first that comes to mind is just around the side of your first photo of Lennox Chemicals. On the left-hand side of the building, the words ‘Falls Hotel’ can clearly be seen. This was the hotel where Nora Barnacle worked. It was just outside here on Nassau Street that she met James Joyce for the first time.
[…] only mention on the blog to date has been in jaycarax’s piece on Dublin Ghost Signs. If you told someone to meet you in The Shakespeare for a pint, they wouldn’t have a clue. […]
I remember Lennox Chemicals well. I was a subversive, if not distinguished customer, in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
I bought silver powder (can’t remember the chemical name at this remove) for lifting fingerprints from paper (notepaper, theatre programmes etc.). Part of my youthful attempts to become a detective. You could also take people’s fingerprints directly by lighting a match under a saucer. This made a black carbon area onto which you put the person’s finger. You then lifted it with selotape, which you then folded back on itself to preserve it. Great fun matching up the two.
I also bought the ingredients for making stink bombs (tartaric acid and iron oxide sticks, as far as I can remember at this remove). You boiled a tartaric acid solution, threw in the iron oxide sticks, and bottled the result. I used to bottle the stuff in corked ink bottles and bring it to school. A brief removal of the cork sent a wave of stink up the class in the teacher’s direction. Great fun.
I also bought the ingredients for copper pipe bombs there. Dangerous stuff but this was pre-1969 and the main ingredient was freely available as it was sold for other purposes.
I also bought the ingredients for gunpowder, which almost led to me inadvertently burning down the family home.
Meant to include this url in the last comment. Please do not pass on to minors.
http://parent:allow@www.photopol.com/parental/bang/bang.html
You can hover the cursor over the graphics for light relief.
@john fisher
Current sign there is Finn’s Hotel, taken today from the top of the city tourbus:
You might also be interested in this one which encapsulates the ghost of times past:
http://www.photopol.com/signs/domestic_economy.html
And another one in Lord Edward St.:
and some background:
http://www.irishdeafhistory.com/harding.html
Another recently caught my eye:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photopol/5044711538/
[…] I found a few before I stumbled across this great website with tonnes of them and this post from comeheretome. Anyway here’s ten of my […]