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HOUSE NUMBERS: Unique or historical typography can add beauty to any exterior
House numbers are an often neglected detail of a house.
They are the first impression people get of your home. They are crucial for first-time dinner guests, emergency vehicles or Uber drivers to be able to identify the right address. So go out to the street and look critically at your house and see how clearly you can read the numbers. Perhaps you could use something a little more stylish, a little larger, a bit more classic or a little more modern.
“Numbers are the only typography on your house,” says Glenn Milano, who started the House Number Lab in 2011. “You can put a mindless number up there to get the job done. But you are missing a great opportunity to do something beautiful and interesting.”
Could your numbers use an upgrade? We polled a group of designers about their go-to styles:
Carmel Greer, District Design
Greer often turns to Etsy vendors for interesting house numbers, especially for cottages and bungalows. Here are three:
■ Camilla Cotton: She likes these “quirky, off-the-beaten-path” castiron numbers to add charm to a small house ($23.12 per number).
■ DropMetal: These painted and distressed aluminum house numbers are colourful and a nice deviation from predictable modern styles, she says ($24.55 per number).
■ Eleven Owls Studio: Greer likes these vintage-style numbers that are painted on wood pallets for use on an alley facade or along a wall (from $31.84 per number).
Anne Decker, Anne Decker Architects
For more contemporary homes, Decker is fond of Richard Neutra’s aluminum numbers because of “their clean, modern lines” ($35 per number, dwr.com). She says they age nicely. For more traditional homes, she usually turns to Baldwin’s more classic numbers, ordering them in oil-rubbed bronze or unlacquered brass that will age over time (US$12-US$13.80 per number, baldwinbrasshardware.com).
Simon Jacobsen, Jacobsen Architecture
“When it comes to addresses on historic houses or new houses in historic neighbourhoods, I try to relate back to when Washington houses were issued addresses in and around 1870,” Jacobsen writes in an email. “I incorporate these house numbers in the transom or elsewhere in the traditional manner. (The House Number Lab) is a historically accurate vinyl decal company that won’t break the bank to bring your house back into historical context where it should be” (from US$15 per number, housenumberlab.com; ships to Canada).