Google Maps Photo Credit
The Porter Paints sign at 700 E. Colonial Drive (MAP) just outside of downtown Orlando is a historic landmark.
(Source) The Porter Paint Company was founded in 1922 in Louisville, Kentucky as a mail-order paint business, primarily for barns. As the company grew, retail and wholesale stores opened, including this shop on Colonial Dr., the first Porter Paints in the Orlando area. In 1954, Citrus Fruit Products (now Dr. Phillips, Inc.), owned the property and hired L. Alex Hatton, a local architect, to design the International Style building for their new tenants, Porter Paints. The black, white, and orange striped sign are part of the building’s outer walls and made of porcelain enamel-faced metal panels, the only example of this material used for a pre-1966 non-illuminated sign in the City. In 1995, Porter Paints became the first company to take advantage of the historic sign ordinance that protects historic signs that do not conform to current codes. The Porter Paints sign’s structure, material, color, and graphics are important elements to the overall composition of the small store.