Furlongs, Woolwich

Furlong has been a familiar name in Woolwich since the early 19th century. Indeed, over the years, the Furlongs have been running many businesses, essentially in Powis Street. William Archdeacon's Greenwich & Woolwich directory for 1852 shows John and James Furlong working as auctioneers, house and estate agents, valuers and undertakers, cabinetmakers, and agents to the General Fire and Life Office.
The venture into the car business only began in the late 1940s or early 1950s. The website of Furlongs (motor engineer) Ltd claims "Yup, Still here after 60 years..." This is supported by a few lines in the 26 March 1952 issue of Motor in which one could read that Furlongs Ltd carried out repairs and sold spares for all models of cars, and that they also specialised in caravan chassis, axle, legs, and tow bracketts. The 1950s were certainly good years for Furlongs. The economy was growing and the number of cars on the roads was increasing steadily. As a result, the journal The Autocar could write in 1957 that

Mr. C. H. Singer has been appointed general manager of Furlongs, Ltd, 160, Powis Street, Woolwich, London, S.E. 18. He was formerly sales manager of University Motors, Ltd. At the present time Furlongs, who are Rover main agents, are building considerable extensions to their premises.

A picture taken c. 1965 shows Furlongs' showrooms on Powis Street. These are long gone and other businesses occupy the premises on Powis Street. However Furlongs retained the buildings at the back, between Powis Street and Woolwich High Street, which they use as off-street car parks. Nowadays the only cars sold by Furlongs are second-hand ones. Together with servicing, MOT, and car wash, it constitutes its core business.

Furlongs

Customers & Callers

Only

To Thoroughfare
Spares Petrol
Shop & Exit
Location: Woolwich High Street / Pictures taken on: 13/05/2011

K & M Larn, Tufnell Park

In the late 19th and early 20th century women of Tufnell Park and around could acquire a whole range of clothes, accessories, and cloth at K. & M. Larn's.

K. & M. Larn
Fancy Work
Overalls
Blouses
Corsets
Gloves
Hosiery
Laces
Ribbons
Haberdashery
Flannels
Flannelettes
Calicoes
Underclothing
Maids' Dresses
Caps & Aprons
At the time, flannels would have been made exclusively of carded wool or worsted yarn. The great demand for this kind of cloth led to the creation of flannelettes, made of napped cotton. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica the word appeared in the 1880s. Although the texture was similar, at equivalent prices, flannelettes were usually of better quality than flannels.

Location: York Rise / Picture taken on: 14/08/2009

Karbosan, Oerlikon and Teka, Istanbul

This must be Istanbul's most photographed ghost sign as it appears pretty much on any picture taken from the Galata Bridge of the Galata Tower rising above the Golden Horn. Yet in spite of its prime location few people may notice it because there is so much around to distract one's attention.


Additionally the fact that the name of one of the companies advertised there is written sideways doesn't help.

Karbosan
Oerlikon [written sideways]
Founded in 1967, Karbosan is a Turkish manufacturer of abrasive products.
As for Oerlikon, it is a Swiss corporation whose origins go back to 1907, the year the Schweizerische Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon (Swiss Power Tool Factory Oerlikon) opened in Zürich-Oerlikon. In 1937 it was bought by German industrialist Emil Georg Bührle and its name became Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon-Bührle & Co (Power Tool Factory Oerlikon-Bührle). In 1964 it was shortened to Oerlikon-Bührle. In the 1960s and 1970s the company diversified its production and portfolio by purchasing several companies involved in a wide range of sectors, from shoes and textile to hotels and real estate. By 1973 the group was composed of more than 100 companies. That year it went public and began trading as Oerlikon-Bührle Holding AG. However the group was restructured in the late 1990s after the military equipment branch incurred heavy losses in the late 1980s and 1990s. Under-performing and loss-making branches were sold off, including Bally Shoe (which it had bought in 1977), Oerlikon Contraves (armaments), Pilatus Aircraft, Britten-Norman Aircraft, as well as those involved in hotels and real estate. From then on the group concentrated essentially on new technologies. In order to reflect this major development the name was changed to Unaxis in 2000. In 2005 the Austrian Victory Industriebeteiligung AG acquired a majority of shares and one year later the name was changed to OC Oerlikon to reflect its origins.
The sign must date from the time of Oerlikon-Bührle Holding AG.

For several years these painted signs were hidden behind a large billboard advertising Teka's kitchen appliances. It was removed only recently.

As one crosses the Galata Bridge and approaches the northern shore of the Golden Horn, it appears the eastern side of this building is also covered with ghost signs.


However one has to cross the bridge and walk along Tersane Caddesi to get a better view and realise what a palimpsest this wall is.

Oerlikon
...ayman elktrod..r
...
...
Karbosan
Teka
The Teka group specializes in domestic and professional equipment for the kitchen and bathroom, as well as stainless steel storage containers and electronics. The company was founded in 1957, although its origins can be traced back to the forge that operated in the 1920s in the village of Haiger-Sechshelden in Hessen. Teka was one of the first companies to use stainless steel to make sinks. Over the years it expanded its presence abroad and in 1990 opened an office in Istanbul.

My guess is that the different companies whose names appear on this building - Oerlikon, Kabosan and Teka, in chronological order - all had at some point their offices in this block.

As for the building itself, if it offers great opportunities in terms of advertising, working in it must be frustrating: in spite of its excellent location, its occupants can't enjoy the absolutely amazing view over the Golden Horn and, beyond, the historic centre of Istanbul. Instead their only windows face north and overlook a busy thouroughfare. Maybe whoever built this block didn't want office workers to be distracted?

Location: Tersane Caddesi, Beyoğlu, Istanbul / Pictures taken on: 17/06/2011

Rochester Co-operative Society, Rochester

Founded in 1884, the Rochester Co-operative Society beginnings were humble. There is very little information about this particular component of the co-operative movement but the few documents available suggest it amalgated with other societies and changed its name accordingly. By the mid-1900s it had evolved into the Rochester and District Co-operative Society, before becoming in the early 1920s the Rochester and District Co-operative and Industrial Society Ltd.
In the mid-1920s the co-operative owned several oulets located at 21-27 and 33 High Street. Some of these were demolished and in 1928 a brand new department store was inaugurated. There, by the main entrance, the Co-operative proudly displayed its logo on a doorstep mosaic.

RCS
If the logo incorporated only the initials of the original co-operative society, its full name -Rochester and District Co-operative and Industrial Society Ltd- stretched along the façade as a picture taken c. 1955 shows.

Location: High Street, Rochester, Kent / Picture taken on: 26/06/2011

Update on Capons

I've added some information about Capon, the butcher from Rochester, and two links to pictures taken c. 1955.

Player's please, Homerton

In 1924 George Green, advertising manager at John Player & Son Ltd, came up with the slogan "Player's Will Please You", replaced later by "They're Player's and They Please." By the early 1930s Green shortened these rather ordinary slogans and launched the highly successful "Player's Please!" Not only this was short and catchy, but it could take two different meanings, depending on whether "please" was understood as a verb or an adverb. Indeed it could either suggest, as with the earlier versions, that Player's cigarettes would give the smoker pleasure (as well as bad breath and a few health problems including cancer) or it could be what a customer would say to a tobacconist. Additionally by using such a common sentence Green could appeal to virtually everybody (*). Thus this inclusive slogan, together with the familiar image of the Royal Navy sailor Hero, explained to a large extent the success of Player over its competitors during the interwar period and immediate aftermath of the Second World War.

*: however Player's cigarettes appealed more to middle-class southern England and never really conquered the north of Britain, where working classes preferred the Woodbine.

Player's
Please
Location: Kenney's Street / Picture taken on: 17/02/2010

Ferretería El Molino, Havana

This large house in the centre of Havana was built in 1887 for one of the city's wealthy families. Living quarters were found on the first floor while the ground floor was rented out to different businesses. One of these was the ferretería, or ironmonger's shop, "El Molino" ("The Mill"), which at some point in the first quarter of the 20th century became a limited company under the name "Ferretería Molinos S. A."
The ferretería and the other shops closed a long time ago and in 1986 the Casa Museo de África opened within its walls.

Ferretería "Molinos S. A."

Ferretería

El Molino ...a..

Like many buildings in the historic centre of the Cuban capital, this house was wonderfully restored a few years ago by the Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de La Habana, the institution in charge of the capital's heritage. In the process, some of the names of the shops that occupied the ground floor and adverts for the products they sold were uncovered and a team of specialists in preservation and restoration of mural paintings from the Oficina's Empresa de Restauración de Monumentos was called in.
There is some debate about whether ghost signs should be restored to their original design, preserved in their current state or left to fade away. In Cuba the authorities seem to have chosen not to restore them but to keep them in the state they are in when the building they are painted on is being restored. Thus only the treatment necessary to prevent further damage is normally applied.

The picture below has been created by stitching two photos.


Location: Calle Obrapía, Havana / Pictures taken on: 03/04/2010