class="tag"Posts Tagged ‘historic sign’
No Comments Historic Building Became A Hot Spot For Sign Depot
It Was Heating Up At The Sign Depot
June 17 2014 was a very interesting day for us here at The Sign Depot in Kitchener Ontario. Our fire alarms began going off inside this historic building at Borden and Charles streets. We evacuated the building and were informed by The City Of Kitchener Fire Department that the fire was in a different part of the building (the 50 Ottawa St. S side) and that it was under control and it would be out shortly. This was a relief to us, but we took it as a sign that we should appreciate this historic location and we thought we would give you a brief history about this building
Before The Sign Depot Occupied This Historic Building
According to Western Libraries the history of this building begins with Doon Twines, owned by The Krug Family, needing a bigger factory to meet the high demand of rope in 1916. The Krugs renamed the company (which would now be termed as rebranding) to Canada Cordage and according to Ropecord News it was once Kitchener’s biggest employer. In 2007 Canada Cordage was sold and moved from this building. Enter Access Storage.
Access Storage took over the building and converted it into a Self Storage facility and leased industrial space to other businesses.
This is when The Sign Depot moved into the Borden Ave. S. side of the building. You can read more about our move to the building on Peter’s blog post A Good Move For Custom Signs
Present Day At The Sign Depot
Being in this building for almost five years, we have witnessed several changes in the area. Many new businesses have been drawn to the area with word that this will be a hub for Region of Waterloo’s LRT (otherwise know as Rapid Transit or the ION). This meant there were a lot of eyes on yesterday’s events. You can read about the fire in building on the THE RECORD website as well as on the Waterloo Region Police Services incident page for June 17.
Thanks To Kitchener Fire
We would like to thank the Kitchener Firefighters that worked quickly to contain the blaze and extinguished the fire. We hope that it’s a sign of how important this historic building is to the community.
Custom Historical Site Signs And Wayfinding Signage
Signs For Historic Sites
Last month we asked our online audience what Historic Sites they enjoy visiting. It was a varied list including Pioneer Villages, Military Reenactement Sites, Historic Ruins, Heritage Buildings and Natural Wonders. Many of these places welcome visitors from all over the world, and how do they welcome them? With custom signs that are created to reflect the history of the site.
Custom Crafted Signs Made To Be Memorable
When the expert custom sign makers here at The Sign Depot are creating a sign for a historic site they consider these factors
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Visibility
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Close traffic areas
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Brand recognition
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Surrondings
With these four ideas in mind a custom sign can show off what the historic site wishes to convey to their visitors. With just a glance, guests get a good idea of what to expect from the site because of the traditional sign out front. Visibility is key to ensure that the sign is placed in the proper position. If you factor in the traffic near by you will know if it is predominantly drive by or walk up traffic (and sometimes it is both). Brand recognition come is the form of text, graphics, logo and colour choice and finally considering the surrounding area lets the sign designer know how to make the sign stand out but not look out of place. In addition to conveying a message to passersby, the custom sign also provides wayfinding for the historic site. You can learn more about the importance of wayfinding on our post about findability and wayfinding signs.
Let us know about some of the historic sites that you have visited recently and if you have pictures with their landmark signs we would love to see those too!
