Spelled-out house numbers

[KCRoadFan]

I was just thinking about how in the time and place I grew up (the early 2000's in Columbia, MO), many of the houses there - especially those in the westside neighborhood in which we lived - displayed their address numbers as being spelled out, most commonly set in a small, black cursive script font.

More recently, the spelled-out house numbers seem to have fallen out of favor - during that period, there were several ABA consultants who worked with me, and we would often go on walks, which normally followed a set route through my neighborhood in Columbia. Because of that, I came to remember which houses had the spelled-out numbers, and when I drove down those same streets more than a decade later, I saw that many of those houses had since replaced the text with conventional numerals.

That being said, where I live now - Kansas City - there are still some spelled-out house numbers out there, although they seem somewhat uncommon. That made me wonder: when did you start seeing them in your area? Also, what is your opinion on spelled-out house numbers? I think that while they look pretty, they could pose a hindrance to people looking for the house, such as pizza deliveries, mail carriers, and emergency personnel.

[WillWeaverRVA]

The neighborhood I grew up in had a lot of these though the homeowners tended to gradually replace them with digits.

[GaryV]

I think it was a trend to look "classy". I most often saw them on 1970's and 1980's era houses, the ones with two stories and a big garage front.

[SectorZ]

I feel like a lot of the houses the had/have spelled out numbers also have the half-screen storm door with the horse-drawn wagon on it.

[CtrlAltDel]

The neighborhood I grew up in had a lot of these though the homeowners tended to gradually replace them with digits.

This is my experience as well. As a side note, I never liked them, and I especially didn't like them when the ten's digit was zero, so you'd see things like:



which negated, I think, any elegance they were going for.

[Rothman]

Bonus prestige points if they were in cursive.

[1995hoo]

Some—definitely by no means all—of the houses in the neighborhood where we lived when I was ages 2–10 had spelled-out numbers, usually in cursive. The neighborhood where I live now has covenants that specifically disallow spelled-out numbers. Supposedly digits are easier for emergency responders to identify at a quick glance.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Some—definitely by no means all—of the houses in the neighborhood where we lived when I was ages 2–10 had spelled-out numbers, usually in cursive. The neighborhood where I live now has covenants that specifically disallow spelled-out numbers. Supposedly digits are easier for emergency responders to identify at a quick glance.

Yes, it is much easier (and expedient) for a first responder to recognize a dwelling with "123" on it rather than "One Twenty-Three" or "One Hundred Twenty-Three", whether the spelled out number is in cursive or not.

[1995hoo]

Some—definitely by no means all—of the houses in the neighborhood where we lived when I was ages 2–10 had spelled-out numbers, usually in cursive. The neighborhood where I live now has covenants that specifically disallow spelled-out numbers. Supposedly digits are easier for emergency responders to identify at a quick glance.

Yes, it is much easier (and expedient) for a first responder to recognize a dwelling with "123" on it rather than "One Twenty-Three" or "One Hundred Twenty-Three", whether the spelled out number is in cursive or not.

No doubt. The main reason I said "supposedly" (which is not apparent from my prior comment, so my fault there) is that it may be questionable whether the digits are particularly visible at all, at least at night. There are some people in our neighborhood, for example, who refuse to turn on their outside lights at night. It's not all that easy to see their house numbers at all, but I suppose if the neighbor uses his, they could use his house number to find the one they need.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Some—definitely by no means all—of the houses in the neighborhood where we lived when I was ages 2–10 had spelled-out numbers, usually in cursive. The neighborhood where I live now has covenants that specifically disallow spelled-out numbers. Supposedly digits are easier for emergency responders to identify at a quick glance.

Yes, it is much easier (and expedient) for a first responder to recognize a dwelling with "123" on it rather than "One Twenty-Three" or "One Hundred Twenty-Three", whether the spelled out number is in cursive or not.

No doubt. The main reason I said "supposedly" (which is not apparent from my prior comment, so my fault there) is that it may be questionable whether the digits are particularly visible at all, at least at night. There are some people in our neighborhood, for example, who refuse to turn on their outside lights at night. It's not all that easy to see their house numbers at all, but I suppose if the neighbor uses his, they could use his house number to find the one they need.

Yup. Also, there are some neighborhoods that have the house numbers painted on the curb (if there is one), which also helps them identify a particular house. Sometimes the numbers are even painted with reflective paint.

[kkt]

Maybe if the house number is in the single digits:  One Bag End.

Otherwise, it's a silly attempt to look prestigious which makes it look pompous instead, and houses harder to find.

[1995hoo]

Some—definitely by no means all—of the houses in the neighborhood where we lived when I was ages 2–10 had spelled-out numbers, usually in cursive. The neighborhood where I live now has covenants that specifically disallow spelled-out numbers. Supposedly digits are easier for emergency responders to identify at a quick glance.

Yes, it is much easier (and expedient) for a first responder to recognize a dwelling with "123" on it rather than "One Twenty-Three" or "One Hundred Twenty-Three", whether the spelled out number is in cursive or not.

No doubt. The main reason I said "supposedly" (which is not apparent from my prior comment, so my fault there) is that it may be questionable whether the digits are particularly visible at all, at least at night. There are some people in our neighborhood, for example, who refuse to turn on their outside lights at night. It's not all that easy to see their house numbers at all, but I suppose if the neighbor uses his, they could use his house number to find the one they need.

Yup. Also, there are some neighborhoods that have the house numbers painted on the curb (if there is one), which also helps them identify a particular house. Sometimes the numbers are even painted with reflective paint.

Heh. My Eagle Scout project way back when involved painting house numbers on curbs, so I'm quite familiar with that sort of thing. 

My current neighborhood doesn't have those, perhaps because the curbs on the streets where the houses are all yellow curbs (with some few exceptions on streets with single-family houses).

[mgk920]

I've never liked spelled out numbers, either, numbers are there so that others can find the address.  There is one small townhouse complex here where the individual units are lettered ('A' through 'P'), but the letters are in such fancy Olde Englische script that many of them look more like Chinese characters to me.

Mike

[epzik8]

There's always an occasional house in the older neighborhoods where I live with these. I've found them to be pretentious.

[-- US 175 --]

I've seen occasional spelled-out house addresses over the years, but it's been *quite* a while since I saw one last.  IINM, they were all in snooty/uppity neighborhoods or the homeowner was trying to be that way.  It's hard enough to see house numbers at night as it is, without the added cursive verbiage version.

[Rothman]

People should just paint huge numbers from roof to ground on the side of their homes.

[Big John]

Green Bay frequently had spelled out house numbers (and in cursive, Rothman) until the city changed their requirements in the 1990s.

[kphoger]

It's better than a house with no visible number on it at all.

[Scott5114]

I remember there being a few of these in the neighborhood in Del City I lived in before I was six. I didn't like them then because they were hard to read; being so young, I had trouble with cursive anyway, and the cursive these used was so overly ornate that it was hard even for people more familiar with it to read.

Then I moved to the country and everyone had Route Whatever Box Whatever addresses, so of course there was none of that cursive stuff. When the area got "normal" addresses for 911 purposes, everyone just used normal digits. Then I moved to Norman, and I can't say I remember seeing any houses with anything other than numbers.

[Road Hog]

No matter how the street address is spelt out, Bell End in Worcestershire wins Street of the Year.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/street-bell-end-names-vladimir-25770554

[kphoger]

Then I moved to Norman, and I can't say I remember seeing any houses with anything other than numbers.

Numbers spelled out are still numbers.

[hotdogPi]

Are 110A and 110B numbers?

[Big John]

Are 110A and 110B numbers?

No, alphanumeric characters.

[mgk920]

Are 110A and 110B numbers?

They are in Oshkosh, WI.

Mike

[DandyDan]

I remember my old hometown Cottage Grove, MN had a few of them when I was growing up, which was annoying because that city has all 4 or 5 digit addresses. St. Paul Park next door had some as well.

I still see some here in Mason City. One of my coworkers, when he bought his house, had a "thirty" instead of a "30" on his house, which he said had been owned by someone who had owned it "forever". Once winter was over, he changed that as fast as possible. I don't blame him.