Exhibition page 4

OVERVIEW

TRANSFORMING THE STREETS

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SIGNS WERE DESTROYING THE TOWN’S APPEARANCE

Shop fronts and their signage are very important to the character and overall appearance of the town. With more and more people owning cars in the 1960s and 1970s, the streetscape changed fundamentally, as streets were now geared towards cars and not pedestrians. This had a major impact on shop signs, as customers did not just walk past at 5 km/h, but also sped past in cars. Now, it was no longer enough to have a simple guild sign that cobblers, opticians or bakers normally had hanging outside. Shop fronts were replaced by large glass partitions or covered in all kinds of fancy paraphernalia with large, illuminated signs competing for the attention of passers-by. This gradually undermined the cohesion and the interaction between buildings and the shape, colour and placement of their signs.

Irma on the corner of Stengade and Fiolgade

Snehvide on the opposite corner of Stengade and Fiolgade

THE SHOPS AND THEIR SIGNS BACK THEN

This film shows what the shops and their signs looked like at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s.

CONVERSION INTO PEDESTRIAN STREETS

To make the town centre more welcoming and people-friendly, work began to convert some of the central streets into pedestrian streets in the late 1960s – first Bjergegade, then Stjernegade and finally Stengade. Pavements and asphalt road surfacing were removed, and pedestrian paving now covered the entire street area.

Traffic in Stjernegade

Sct Olai Gade is resurfaced and converted into a “slow street”

PEOPLE AND TRAFFIC IN ELSINORE

Interview with town planner Jan Gehl

SIGNAGE CHANGES

The gradual conversion of the town’s main thoroughfares from car-filled streets with narrow pavements into car-free pedestrian and shopping streets changed the way the shops promoted themselves. Thus, the first steps were taken to re-establish a harmonious relationship between shops, buildings, signage and the street environment. As people were no longer whizzing by in cars or buses, but instead strolling past, the shops no longer needed to have such extensive signage.

Stjernegade

Stengade

MORE SOPHISTICATED SIGNS AND FACADES

In the spring of 1971, the booklet “Signs and Facades” was published and was handed out free of charge to shop owners in an attempt to start a dialogue about signage in the town. The goal was to get the shops to “tidy up” their shop fronts and get rid of unnecessary adornments, while at the same time toning down the extreme signage that had been dominating large areas of the town for the past few decades. By talking to shop owners and introducing regulations, signs and facades were successfully modified so they did not undermine the town’s original character to such a large extent, but instead allowed the beautiful old facades to enhance the characters and profiles of the individual shops. Some shops displayed their old guild signs, while others put up old decorative painted signs that had been discovered when the buildings were being renovated.

THE HOUSES BECOME ROOTED

As the changes were implemented, the houses suddenly became rooted again. By dismantling the large glass facades and the bombastic adornments and signage, the buildings behind them became visible and became an integral part of the overall streetscape once again. At the same time, people started noticing the impact that the new measures regarding signs and shop fronts had on the town centre.

Shop fronts in Elsinore

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