—This method requires no special mention; it is an economical plan and is more adopted than any other, but the letters must be painted every three years at least, and they are apt to be defaced if the premises are painted by the owner or occupier.
Enamelled Iron Plates.
—These look very well, but they are apt to get loose, and a blow from a stone will shiver them.
Wooden or Metal Figures cut out and fastened on to Boards or against Walls.
—The same objection holds good with this method as with others of the same description, the fastenings fail in time, and the name disappears.
Enamelled Glass Tablets in Street Lamps.
—This is an excellent method of recent introduction, and has many advantages. The name can be seen very plainly either by day or night, no private premises have to be interfered with in fixing them,[123] a uniformity of position or “where to look” for the name of the street is secured, and there is no limit to the number of times the name may be repeated.
Where the names of streets are placed against buildings the letters which compose the name should not be less than 4 inches in height by 2 inches in breadth, with a space between each letter of not less than 1 inch; a light colour should always where practicable be used for the back ground, and black or blue for the letters. One great objection to painted letters is that they must be frequently repainted, and in order to do this, ladders have to be raised against the building, which the occupiers naturally object to without previous notice: it is always very annoying to any citizen to have the head of a painter appearing outside his bed-room window at any time, and more especially at an inconvenient hour in the morning.
In selecting names for streets it is very important that they should not be duplicated in a town, and also that there should be some sense in their nomenclature; generally some local association can be found with a family or historical name which is suitable for the street. Nothing is more ridiculous than to see such names as Bath Street or York Road given to streets which have as much association with such places as with Jericho.
The street having been properly and conspicuously named, the next point to consider is that of the manner in which it shall be numbered, there being three methods in vogue by which this can be effected.