I've been meaning to share this for sometime. I have lived for a number of years in the Hellman Building, the one named after Isaias, not the other Hellman Building across 4th Street. I'm about to move out soon, and I wanted to share this before I'm out the door. When I saw Chuckaluck's post about the signage for the Dewey Building, I remembered it's time to post my own signage discovery.
Basically, my loft is located at the juncture of the old section of the building and the newer section of the building that was built a few years after. The "newer" section of the building starts above Harlem Alley and connects to the Continental Building. I live on the top floor, the 6th Floor.
One of the cool things about the top floor units is the bi-level that the owner/redeveloper put in when this building was converted into lofts. I have been using my second floor unit as a recording studio of sorts, but perhaps the coolest thing about it is this:
That's the original handpainted backside signage of my building, once visible to everyone walking eastwards on 4th Street, now - over 100 years later - only visible to me!
I've been trying to locate a photo or postcard of the signage as it was before the newer section was installed. As I mentioned, the newer section starts at above Harlem Alley, and connects to what's now the Continental Building on the SEC of 4th and Spring. If there ever was a postcard, it would probably be a view eastward down 4th Street, perhaps from Spring, Broadway or even Hill. I know there's an old postcard showing a similar sign for the Isaias W. Hellman Building on the Main Street side, which is now covered up thanks to the parking lot building connecting to it.
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