Geotype Submission

The Geotype project charts the rich history of lettering and type forms that have established the identity of cities and towns around the world. Explore the map

How does this letter-form communicate its location?

The historic city centre is signposted with the traditional blue metallic plaques enamelled with white lettering. They are informative, proud and, for me, a classic trademark of my hometown. I chose to photograph La rue de l’Hotel de Ville because of the sheer amount of times the road name has been changed – for mainly political reasons – and the enduring evidence of this in the traditional yellow coloured stone. The same road has been Rue du Département (named after the home of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, which is now the town hall, 1971), rue de l’Arbre Chéri (with the French revolution came new ideas and emblems, the name meaning equality, brotherhood and freedom!) and rue du Palais-Royal (in 1800, after Waterloo, the white flag was raised on the royal palace of Bordeaux and so the name was changed). Now the name of the street is rue de l’Hotel du Ville because the Palace of Rohan became the town hall of Bordeaux in 1835. The street name was updated in 1857.

Location

33000 Bordeaux, France