This is the street sign style used in Manhattan and the Bronx beginning in the mid-1910s, and surviving in some cases until the early 1960s. They were navy blue and white, with the cross street placed above the main identifier street in what came to be called the ‘hump.’ That serif lettering was exquisite — someone really ought to digitize the letters and numbers and sell them as a font.
From the collection of Lawrence Rogak.
9/11/12