Basle 424/Heuberg 17
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8/15, photo: AT Basle 424/Heuberg 17 previous number | next number |
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House sign, house name and house number Prior to the introduction of the house number houses were usually identified by house names. The above picture displays a variety of possible ways of identification: house sign, house name, a simple sequential number, as well as the orientation number; to this multitude of identities add another two numbers indicating years. What could indeed be considered as quite unusual a phenomenon was that a house, instead of being designated with a sign, had a name written on it: "A Swiss visitor to London in 1782 was struck by the prevalence of shop names rather than signs." (Peter Burke) Gallery of House Numbers: Exhibition |