Question

Slab serif found in the projects in Spanish Harlem with a few quirks. 1950s maybe?

Comments

I'm stymied... :) There's some Stymie DNA in there though?

Answer 1

Hi Carrie! This is probably lettering. Each shape is unique. There may have been a template in use, but no specific font. There were many slab serif typefaces in the early 1900s with similar odd shapes for ‘K’ and ‘G’, as well as a mix of bracketed and non-bracketed serifs (such as Foster), but nothing digital that is closer than these:

Rockwell

Karnak

Memphis

Beton

Comments

Hi Stephen! You read my mind! I, too, was struck by the bracketed serifs on the Es and Fs and wondered if it wasn't some wacky, early 20th century typeface that I''d never seen before. Thanks for taking the time to follow through on that hypothesis, even if it didn't turn out to be the right one.