Street Signs

Municipal street signs

Municipal Wayfinding

Municipal street signs come in various styles and sizes depending on their years of manufacture, function, placement, and personalization. In large cities like Ottawa and Toronto, one can find a large variety of street signs from different time periods featuring commemorative and former city or neighbourhood-personalized designs.

Toronto

Ottawa

Toronto

Ottawa

Toronto

Ottawa

Highlights

The Rosco Acorn

The most recognizable of Toronto's street signs, they are a staple and icon introduced in 1947 and found throughout the old city and to some extent, out in the suburbs [1].

A Timeless Design

Named after the company that first produced them, Rosco Metal & Roofing Products Ltd., and the decorative acorn that sits on top, the elegant and classic design became very popular across the country [2] and over many decades was produced in many variations, styles, and sizes [1].

Illuminated "Centennial" Signs

Like other cities, Toronto once had illuminated street signs. Introduced in part to celebrate the country's centennial year in the mid-1960s [1], they were rectangular boxes with small slits to manage moisture and dissipate heat from the internal incandescent lights and had inserts for blade signs. These blade signs were colour-coded for ease of navigation: black on yellow for east-west streets and white on blue for north-south.

Examples Still Exist

The city's seasonal weather ultimately led to their replacement starting in the 1990s though a decent number of examples have been preserved and other variations also exist:

- Rotblott's Discount Warehouse at 443 Adelaide Street West (preserved examples on display; not for sale)
- McDonald's Place at Concorde Place and Wynford Drive
- The neighbourhood southeast of McCowan Road and Highway 7 in Markham

European Traffic Signs

Traffic signs in Canada follow the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Canada (MUTCDC) standard (with minor variations between provinces) similar to the MUTCD in the United States [3] but interestingly there are numerous examples of signs that conform to the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals standard in Toronto. These signs are standard across practically all of Europe and in certain other parts of the world [4] but are a rarity in North America.

An Interesting Variety

Most of these examples are roundabout and bicycle signs found in or in the vicinity of the downtown core and are immediately recognizable as European-inspired signs as they are round, blue, and white.

While many of these signs exist in Toronto, other signs from or inspired by the Vienna Convention standard do exist elsewhere in the country, namely Montreal (Indigo parking lots) and along the Niagara River Parkway in Niagara Falls.

Sources

Marie, Denise. “Street Signs - Urban Artifacts Marking Toronto’s Way.” TorontoJourney416, 20 Mar. 2024, https://torontojourney416.com/street-signs/
“Rosco Acorn.” Toronto Street Sign Database Wiki, Fandom, Inc., https://tssdb.fandom.com/wiki/Rosco_Acorn. Accessed 7 Sept. 2024.
“Road Signs in Canada.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Aug. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Canada
“Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Aug. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Signs_and_Signals

Sources:

Marie, Denise. “Street Signs – Urban Artifacts Marking Toronto’s Way.” TorontoJourney416, 20 Mar. 2024, https://torontojourney416.com/street-signs/
“Rosco Acorn.” Toronto Street Sign Database Wiki, Fandom, Inc., https://tssdb.fandom.com/wiki/Rosco_Acorn. Accessed 7 Sept. 2024.
“Road Signs in Canada.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Aug. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Canada
“Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Aug. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Signs_and_Signals