"Few old residents, even, know the names of all streets and strangers are often confused in trying to find their way through the labyrinth of curving lanes." That was the Bronxville Review on September 11, 1926, explaining why the village needed street signs at all.
Bronxville's hunter-green signs are easy to treat as period charm, like the finials or the lettering. They began as something more practical. The village's curving streets were hard to find your way through, and the solution came from an artist who lived up the hill in Lawrence Park. The replacements going up on corners this fall are copies of that 1926 design, made from molds.
A model on display at Village Hall
The Review article described a model sign on display at Village Hall, waiting for the trustees to adopt it. The paper called it "a graceful iron standard with the street name in white letters upon a green background." It noted that the subject "has been given study for a long time" and that the design on view was "the outcome of numerous changes."
Two names appear in that article. The design was submitted by "Mr. H. T. Schladermundt of Lawrence Park." Trustee H. G. Kimball oversaw the effort and got the model from the Municipal Street Sign Company of New York. According to the Bronxville Historical Conservancy, talk of installing street signs had gone on for more than a decade before that. The signs were ordered from the same company late in 1926 and put up in the spring of 1927.
A neighbor designed the signs to solve a problem with the village's layout, and a trustee got them made.
The artist up the hill
The designer was Herman T. Schladermundt. The federal government's GSA Fine Arts Collection lists him under that name, born in Milwaukee in 1863 and died in Kent, Connecticut, in 1937. The Bronxville Historical Conservancy spells his first name "Hermann."
He had been a neighbor for almost thirty years by the time he drew the signs. The Conservancy's Hilltop Artists history says that in 1898 he moved into a newly built studio-home at 8 Park Avenue, near where the yellow brick road climbs into Lawrence Park. A year earlier, he had made a frieze for one of the large rooms at the Gramatan Inn, which burned down soon after. He was known for architectural decoration, and some of his early training was with the architects Carrère & Hastings. The house at 8 Park Avenue mixes stucco, stone, and shingle. It looks modest from the front, but a large two-story studio window gives it a much bigger presence from behind.
His work also appears well beyond the village:
- The Library of Congress credits him with a semicircular stained-glass window in the Main Reading Room of the Thomas Jefferson Building, according to its catalog record.
- The GSA Fine Arts Collection lists four of his paintings dated 1918. One of them, Nil Sine Numine (Mining), hangs in Denver's Byron White U.S. Courthouse and shows Colorado miners against a mountain scene.
The same artist decorated one of the country's best-known reading rooms, painted a federal courthouse mural, and drew the bracket that holds up the sign on your corner.
How the signs are rebuilt
Ninety-plus years of weather wore the signs down. In April 2025, MyHometownBronxville reported that many signs were missing key parts, especially the decorative brackets and caps.
Finding a shop that could match the originals was the hardest part, the Conservancy says. Board member and architect Anderson Kenny researched the options, and the village ordered from Wainland's Inc. of Astoria. Each sign needs five to eight separately fabricated and finished pieces. The Conservancy paid for the molds, and Kenny worked with the fabricator and village staff so the finished signs would match the originals. MyHometownBronxville places that first campaign in the mid-2010s and describes Wainlands as an ornamental metal shop that specializes in landmark building projects.
Because the Conservancy paid for the molds during that first campaign, later phases could reproduce the original parts instead of approximating them.
The current phase grew between announcement and installation. In April 2025, the Conservancy committed up to $125,000 to cover component manufacturing for at least sixty signs, and the Village took on installation and painting. By October 2026, the Village newsletter put the Conservancy's contribution at $130,000 toward recreating 75 signs.
"Bronxville's street signs are an elegant daily reminder of our local history. The Conservancy is thrilled to be helping preserve this treasured legacy of our past."
Mike Heraty, Bronxville Historical Conservancy co-chair, quoted by MyHometownBronxville in April 2025
A century of one sign, in order
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1897 | Schladermundt creates a frieze for the Gramatan Inn |
| 1898 | He moves into his studio-home at 8 Park Avenue, Lawrence Park |
| 1918 | Date of his four paintings in the GSA Fine Arts Collection |
| September 11, 1926 | The Bronxville Review reports his model sign on display at Village Hall |
| Late 1926 | Signs ordered from the Municipal Street Sign Company of New York |
| Spring 1927 | Original signs go up |
| Mid-2010s | First Village restoration campaign, with Wainland's fabricating the parts |
| April 2025 | Conservancy commits funding for the current phase |
| Summer 2026 | First restored sign installed at Midland Avenue and Masterton Road |
| October 2026 | Installation underway; 75 signs, $130,000 Conservancy contribution |
| End of 2026 | Village's target for installing the remaining signs |
Where to see them this month
The Village's Summer 2026 newsletter named the first restored sign. It stands at Midland Avenue and Masterton Road, with a refurbished cast-iron frame, a decorative finial, and traditional street-name blades. By October, the first batch was installed around the village, and the rest were scheduled to go in before the end of the year. In her October letter, Mayor Mary Marvin wrote that efforts like this one "preserve the details that connect us to Bronxville's past while renewing the Village for those who will follow."
The signs are also part of a wider set of fall projects that make it easier to get around the village on foot, which was the Review's concern in 1926. A loop for a November afternoon:
- Midland Avenue and Masterton Road. Start at the first restored sign and compare the finial and brackets with any older sign you pass on the way.
- Meadow Avenue. The Village recently finished a new sidewalk near the Bronxville School, replacing worn pavement with a continuous surface.
- Route 22, Pondfield Road and Northway. NYSDOT is upgrading pedestrian signals and crosswalks at this intersection. New sidewalk ramps and signal poles were in by October, and conduit work was still underway.
- Crawford Park. The park stays closed during drainage construction. The Village expects perimeter-path restoration, landscaping outside the main drainage area, and safety fencing in late fall, with final plantings in 2027 after watching the new system through a full growing season. The Village posts progress on its stormwater projects page.
If you live on one of these corners or are curious about the history of your own street, I'd love to hear what you know. I've walked these lanes with clients for more than two decades, and the stories behind them are some of my favorite parts of the job. When you're ready to talk about your home or your next move, Cindy Schwall is always glad to help. Let's Connect.
