Despite its distinct lettering, Treffurth’s is an easily-missed relic of Broadway-past. Sitting at the very top of its four-story Renaissance-revival location, the sign dates back to around 1900, when Richard L. Treffurth assumed the lease and opened his eponymous restaurant on the ground floor. Not much is known about the business or its owner beyond what’s compiled in the NoHo Historic District Designation Report, but a photograph in the fabulous 1910 photography book Both Sides of Broadway captures the restaurant in all of its original glory. A T-Mobile now resides in its stead.

The lettering itself appears as a bas-relief engraving in the galvanized iron cornice. The joined script is reminiscent of a Morris Fuller Benton script typeface; it most closely resembles ATF Commercial Script, but Treffurth’s predates the inception of Commercial Script by eight years. Notable is the mustache-like “h”, which makes one ponder if the proprietor had a mustache as well. Also evident is the choice to include a period at the end of the name, which according to designer and tech journalist Adam Banks was common at the time. “Typography [during this period] tended to be highly decorative, so any addition that could be made was welcomed as an extra element to work with. See the commas, for example, in this business card,” Banks explains. Banks points out that the “perfection” of the lettering is another element unique to the era, especially visible in the nearly-identical “f’s”. Banks says, The Victorian lettering artist, working mostly by hand, would have taken pride in demonstrating consistency. Today, you’d probably see a signwriter or typeface designer deliberately making them slightly different; now that we mostly use automated tools for type, and favour simplicity, we value hand-finished variation.”