Alun KirbyHow would you describe the font of this sign, stylistically? Any thoughts @letterformarchive ?
It dates, I think, from 1932.
It's the Garagem Comercio do Porto.
Jonas
Brody Berg
Luke Dorny 
@Brodyberg @cyanotype @letterformarchive @presstype I’d say it’s a mix of the painted letter shape versus the line style of the neon. It’s a nice combo. I see some DIN in the neon, and a condensed geometric in the painted letters.
Alan Bucknam@cyanotype @letterformarchive stylistically, Art Deco. I’d be tempted to say Bauhaus but I think you see more Deco designs in theaters if that era. The design of the rest of the theater would be a clue: Deco theaters tended to borrow from “exotic” cultural references, such as Mayan, Moroccan, Persian, etc.
@bucknam @letterformarchive I would have thought deco too. It's a garage rather than a theatre. Inside it is modernist and functional, designed to celebrate the age of the motorcar arriving. No exotic flourishes I'm afraid.
@cyanotype @letterformarchive I assumed it was a theater of some sort because most of the surviving examples I’ve seen are either on those or apartments. I’d pay extra to park at a garage with a cool sign like that!
Letterform Archive@bucknam @cyanotype Good description of the lettering. In the U.S. this may also called Moderne or Streamline. The sign type is “upright” or “blade”. Coincidentally, it’s also a garage sign that illustrates that typology in Samuel Miller’s “Neon Signs”, a standard reference for makers at the time. https://flic.kr/p/2kTrWuM
BTW, a bit of pedantry: this is very likely not a font (premanufactured alphabet of letters used for print). It is most likely lettering (custom letters drawn for this purpose). As you note in the image description, the monospaced width that allows for even stacking would not be common in a typeface at that time. These letters were made specifically for the sign.
@letterformarchive Thank you! And I do love a bit of pedantry - much appreciated.
Alexey Staroselets@cyanotype @letterformarchive I'd say it's Early Grotesque
Nick Sherman@cyanotype @blag @letterformarchive Here’s another photo of that same sign I snapped in 2016:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicksherman/27878736284/
Other than the hyper-elongated G, I’d describe it as a fairly basic sans-serif style. Sometimes these kinds of almost geometric letters have been referred to as “block lettering” in architectural lettering guides, but that’s also a fairly generic term that’s been applied to other styles too.
