Classical and Poster Parks

Classical billboards, also known as "pilasters" or "lizzies" became popular in the 1920s as the decorative answer to roadside advertisements. Posters were framed with columns or Classical sculpture, seen in the images below.

Pilasters or "Lizzies": Image courtesy of Catherine Gudis, Buyways: Billboards, Automobiles, and the American Landscape, 2004. Image courtesy of John Jakle, Signs in America's Auto Age: Signature of Landscape and Place, 2004.

At the same time, poster parks were a popular way to spruce up roadside advertising. Often the Classical billboards were placed around a landscape park or garden, seen in the image below. Occasionally, a single billboard along a roadside would have a dark green lattice apron and a small garden planted around its base.

Poster Park: Image courtesy of Catherine Gudis.