Builder's signature

Several notable architects and carpenters throughout history are known to have employed builder's signatures on the structures they built.{{Cite web|last=Briggeman|first=Kim|date=November 7, 2014|title=Iconic Missoula architect left his signature stamp on sidewalk|url=https://billingsgazette.com/iconic-missoula-architect-left-his-signature-stamp-on-sidewalk/article_6068ea9b-a3d5-5e48-96c2-b116fa6f95f5.html|access-date=2021-07-25|website=The Billings Gazette|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Clementson|first=Laura|date=November 11, 2017|title=Burlington Carpenter Doing Reno Unravels Hidden History of Fallen Vimy Ridge Soldier|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/vimy-ridge-soldier-leaves-mark-1.4395531|access-date=August 29, 2021}} Frank Lloyd Wright was known to place a red square tile on buildings he designed; on six occasions, Wright signed his name inside these square tiles.{{Cite web|date=November 17, 2017|title=Which Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings Bear These Red Squares?|url=https://franklloydwright.org/redsquare/|website=Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation}}{{Cite web|date=2018-04-10|title=Building a Brand: The Enduring Legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright|url=http://franklloydwright.org/building-a-brand-the-enduring-legacy-of-frank-lloyd-wright/|access-date=2021-07-26|website=Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation|language=en}} Thomas de Monchaux has written that "in 1950, Wright commissioned ceramicist Jeanette Pauson Haber, to make some 25 red tiles inscribed with his initials, that were, in an account preserved in the Wright archives, ‘intended to be placed in buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright where the consecution and final completion of the opus adhered to his specifications and thus received his personal approval.'” The sixteenth century painter Raphael Urbinas was also an architect and he was known to place his signature on structures he designed; for example, in 2016 John D. Holgate described a "pagan temple where Raphael Urbinas has left his signature."{{Cite book|last=Holgate|first=John D.|title=Information Cultures in the Digital Age: A Festschrift in Honor of Rafael Capurro|publisher=Springer|year=2016|isbn=978-3658146795|editor-last=Kelly|editor-first=Matthew|pages=234|chapter=Raphael's School of Athens from the Perspective of Angeletics|editor-last2=Bielby|editor-first2=Jared}}

In 2004, Karen Wildung Reinhart described the discovery of a builder's signature at Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park, stating that "during the fall of 2000, a workman’s signature was found on one of the inn’s uppermost window frames. It was written in thick pencil—perhaps a carpenter’s pencil—with the name “Albert Rock or Roch[e]” and the date May 7, 1904."{{Cite journal|last=Wildung Reinhart|first=Karen|date=Spring 2004|title=Old Faithful Inn: Centennial of a Beloved Landmark|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/hisnps/NPShistory/reinhart.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Yellowstone Science|volume=12|issue=2|pages=9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819195408/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/hisnps/NPShistory/reinhart.pdf|archive-date=August 19, 2021}}

In 2018, Gaye Lebaron reported the presence of "a signature on a beam in the north tower of the Petaluma's old silk mill dated January 22, 1927."{{Cite news|last=Lebaron|first=Gaye|date=June 26, 2018|title=Remembering Petaluma's Old Silk Mill|at=Image caption, slide 3 of 3|work=Petaluma Argus-Courier|url=https://www.petaluma360.com/article/news/remembering-petalumas-old-silk-mill/?artslide=2|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828032559/https://www.petaluma360.com/article/news/remembering-petalumas-old-silk-mill/?artslide=2|archive-date=August 28, 2021}} The Hanson Meeting hall at the New England Wireless and Steam Museum in East Greenwich, Rhode Island features a signature by W.B. Arnold dated Sept 14th, 1901.{{Cite web|title=The Hanson Meeting Hall – New England Wireless & Steam Museum|url=https://newsm.org/buildings/meeting-hall/|access-date=2021-08-08|language=en-US}}

In 1998, Calvin Kendall described a builder's signature located on the portico of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, explaining that "when the Romanesque façade was added in 1170 to the east front of the basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, the architect Niccolo di Angelo signed his name on the right-hand pier of the portico beneath the verse inscription of the architrave."{{Cite book|last=Kendall|first=Calvin|title=Allegory of the Church|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1998|isbn=9781442613096|location=Toronto|pages=181}} In 2007, Friedrich Schwerdtfeger described the presence of craftsmen's signatures on structures in Zaria, Nigeria, where "in some cases, the craftsman's signature is scratched into cement plaster."{{Cite book|last=Schwerdtfeger|first=Friedrich W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gyZle1ive4YC|title=Hausa Urban Art and Its Social Background|publisher=LIT Verlag|year=2007|isbn=9783825856434|location=Berlin|pages=124|chapter=The Craftsmen}}

Builder's signatures also appear in brickwork and masonry. In 2019, Scott P. Stephen explained that in 1753, a craftsman named Henry Robinson signed his name on the outer brick wall of the Prince of Wales Fort, "just beside the front gate."{{Cite book|last=Stephen|first=Scott P.|title=Masters and Servants: The Hudson's Bay Company and Its North American Workforce 1668-1786|publisher=University of Alberta Press|year=2019|isbn=9781772123371|location=Edmonton|pages=121|chapter=Men to Do The Business}}

In 2003, builder's signatures were discovered at the New York State Capitol building in Albany during a roof restoration project to replace the finials and roofing of the building.{{Cite web|last=Huey|first=Paul|date=December 23, 2003|title=Memorandum: State Capitol Finials|url=https://archive.org/details/memorandum-state-capitol-finial|website=New York State Capitol}} Restoration crews discovered names and dates inside the finials and the capitol responded by hiring researchers to identify the workmen. The names signed are W. Brown, R. Bewsher, and M. Grogan, dated August 19, 1891, and researchers ultimately determined that these signatures belonged to William Brown, Richard Bewsher, and Michael Grogan, all of whom were roofers born in the mid-nineteenth century.

In some instances, a builder's signature may be inscribed not by the person involved with the physical construction of the project, but by someone who has been significantly involved in the planning or financial backing of the project. For example, in 2019, it was reported that American president Donald J. Trump signed his name in sharpie on the Mexico–United States border wall.{{Cite web|last=Harrington|first=Rebecca|title=Trump signed his name on his $147-million border wall that replaced old wall|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-signed-border-wall-otay-mesa-california-2019-9|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Business Insider|language=en-US}} Trump himself did not physically construct the wall; however, he was the lead spokesperson and organizer of the project.

Various works of fiction have discussed builders' signatures in their descriptions of setting such as the novels The Samarkand Hijack by David Monnery, Wine, Tarts, & Sex by Susan Johnson, and Capsize by David Kushner.{{Cite book|last=Monnery|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Px3fCQAAQBAJ|title=Soldier S: The Samarkand Hijack|publisher=HarperCollins|year=1995|isbn=9780008155339|series=SAS Operation|location=New York|publication-date=2015|pages=3|chapter=Chapter One}}{{Cite book|last=Johnson|first=Susan|title=Wine, Tarts, & Sex|publisher=Berkley Books|year=2008|isbn=9780425222010|location=New York City|pages=217|chapter=Chapter Thirty}}{{Cite book|last=Kushner|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_c07EAAAQBAJ|title=Capsize|year=2021|isbn=9798739035233|pages=45|chapter=Chapter Three|publisher=David Kushner }} The Samarkand Hijack describes an intricately carved elm door bearing an Uzbek signature dated 1405 AD, and in Kushner's detective novel Capsize, the builder's signature figures into a central part of the plot whereby it is used as evidence in the solving of the mystery.{{Cite book|last=Kushner|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_c07EAAAQBAJ|title=Capsize|year=2021|isbn=9798739035233|pages=137|chapter=Chapter Twelve|publisher=David Kushner }}

• Builders' rites
• Glyph
• Mason's mark
• Tektōn
• Time capsule

{{reflist}}

• [https://legalesign.com/blog/history-of-signatures/ History of the signature]

Category:Signature

Category:History of construction

Category:Building