The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-10-30
NUMBERING HOUSES
400 YEARS OLD
First Tried in Section of Par
is in 1912 and Later in
Other Large Cities.

Speaking of Interesting things"
said a guest at the Westcott hotel
the other evening, Nothing surprised
me more when l was in London this
summer than to learn that this year
makes the 400th anniversary of the
numbering Of houses"
1T was in the year 1872" he con-
tinued, that this idea struck an
architect in Paris to have numbers
painted on certain houses in a dis
trict of Paris. The idea did not find
immediate favor and it was not until
1889 that the system became general.
In Berlin about a decade later an
eccentric method of numbering houses
was adopted. They numbered them
without any reference to streets.
Thus a tenants address would be
described as merely, say, 1000 Ber-
lin
London System.
1.-The numbering of houses in Lon
don is of comparatively recent date.
In the later Stuart times, says Ma
caulay, the houses were not number
ed, and indeed there would have been
little advantage in numbering them,
for of the coachmen, chairmen. por-
tiers and errand boys in London
very small proportion could read. 1t
was necessary to use marks which the
most ignorant could understand. The
shops were therefore distinguished
by painted or sculptured signs, which
gave a very gay and grotesque aspect
to the streets.
Similar measures were adopted for
Identification of private houses. In
Lincolns Inn Fields, for example, it
seems to have been usual for the
house to be distinguished by Orna-
mentation on the gate posts. We
find, for instance, reference to the
'Pineapples' at a house where the Or
namentation consisted of this fruit
cut in stone. At night time other
distinctions were necessary, such as
over against the New Exchange in
Bedford street at the sign of the Pea
cock, where you will see at night
two candles burning within one of
the chambers and a lantern with
candle in it upon the balcony
These descriptions referred to
houses in comparatively we'll defined
spots, and the difficulty of locating
the poorer residents was considerable,
as during the first part of the eigh-
teenth century the names of many
fthe less important streets and
places were continually changing to
correspond with the change of own
ership or of the signs that hung in
the streets. An act was passed In
1852 to compel the residents to do
away with hanging signs, which had
become dangerous obstruction, and
fix them to the walls of the houses.
This act, however, did not include the
numbering of houses, which was Sc
cured three years later in 6 George
Ill.,, cap. 26.
'"rhe first instance known of a Lon
don street in which the houses were
numbered is Prescott street, Good
mans Fields, but the practice did not
spread far before the year 1854, when
it received great impetus, and it
soon after became we'll established in
London.
1T may be interesting to add that
there is still strong objection on
the part of many householders to oc-
cupy a house numbered 10. The Lon
don County Council has often been
requested to allow another number to
be substituted, though the request is
not often granted. In one instance
the proprietors of a nursing home
urged that if the number were mot
altered many superstitious patients
would be afraid to go to the home
and the business would suffer in con-
sequence. In this case the Council
gave way and the house was number
ed 12-A."