The historic Hume Hotel sign painted on the side of the KWC block building in Nelson has been restored and the process involved a lot more than one might think.
The sign was originally painted in the late 1950s. It reads “Hume hotel: 1 Block to fine food and accommodation” with an arrow directing guests a block west of the KWC building on Baker Street.
The hotel was rebranded to the Heritage Inn in 1980 when the Martin family purchased the building, but in 2005 the family decided to change it back to the Hume Hotel.
Because the building reverted to its original name, it made the KWC block sign accurate again. That’s why Ryan Martin, Hume’s current manager, wanted to see it restored.
“We always loved that historic advertisement but over the years it just was fading away. You could hardly see it anymore. When we went back to the Hume Hotel, that ad was relevant again, so it was a project that we wanted to undertake to bring that back to life.”
Martin says he appreciates the unique marketing it provides for his business and explained that it ties into with the Hume’s historic significance in the community.
“In this day and age where it’s just so much digital marketing, screens, clicks, all that sort of stuff and so to paint on historic brick and pay homage to the story, and the history seemed relevant to undertake. Because we are the Hume Hotel and we’re still operating in our 125th year and we hope to be here for a long time.”
It’s unusual for “ghost signs” like this one to be restored. In fact, the City of Nelson has policies in place restricting it.
Martin explained that the process to acquire the permit and see the restoration process through was about a year long.
He says they hired a heritage professional to consult on the project.
“It was a lengthy process getting started. The city recommended us a heritage consultant and it was great to work with her because sometimes these projects can go either really well or really bad… you don’t want to mess something like that up,” he said.
With the consultant’s help, Martin said they were able to accurately replicate the original sign in its restored form.
The lettering, spacing, and font were closely studied to ensure accuracy. These details were important to Martin, as he wanted to see the sign duplicated as closely as it was when it was originally made.
“Some of the letters aren’t fully consistent with the others and we made sure that we were redoing it exactly as it once was done. Some painters or artists want to try and improve these types of signs, but that wasn’t ever on the table with us.”
Valor painting was hired to do the work. Martin said the company was recommended based on their previous experience restoring similar signage, and that he’s pleased with their attention to detail that saw the project successfully completed in September.