Street Sign 2 on Glastonbury Avenue on corner with Antrim Road, Belfast

Tiled street sign supported on a fluted cast iron post, located at the corner of Glastonbury Avenue and Antrim Road in Belfast. The sign comprises individual glazed tiles, each 5 inches tall, bearing white letters on a black background spelling GLASTONBURY AVENUE, set on a cast iron back plate. Blank tiles fill the lower row, and moulded black tiles form the sign's perimeter, which is restrained with a wrought iron strap. The sign measures 14 inches high, with its width determined by the number of letters in the street name. The back plate is bolted to the post in four places at the rear. The overall height is 64 inches. The fluted circular post tapers from 3 inches wide at the top to 3.25 inches at the octagonal base, with a projecting ring at top and bottom and a ball finial above the tiled sign.

This is a fine example of a tiled street sign erected in the early twentieth century by Belfast Corporation, likely to assist passengers locating their stops on the city's tram system. Although the tram system ceased operation many years ago, these prominently positioned signs continue to serve a useful function for public transport passengers. The sign exhibits fine detailing, particularly in its classically inspired cast iron post and in the raised tiled band around the sign.

Historical evidence suggests that prior to the early 1900s, street signage in Belfast lacked uniformity, with developers or residents installing signs of varying styles. In late 1904, Belfast Corporation's Police Committee established a sub-committee to investigate standardisation. Initially, the committee decided upon enamel signage, but in July 1907 this decision was rescinded. Councillors agreed that "in future tile street signs be used in leading thoroughfares, and iron signs in other streets in accordance with the patterns now submitted," and prohibited the erection of hanging or projecting signs on main roads. This move towards standardisation was prompted by the city's rapid growth and the need for legible street markers, and was likely reinforced by the Corporation's takeover and electrification of the tram system in 1905, when passengers required clear identifiers for roads along their routes.

The freestanding white-on-black ceramic signs, together with similarly coloured ceramic or iron wall-mounted signs, appear to have been introduced or widely adopted around 1907. The first such signs were likely erected along tram routes, with other streets beyond the tramlines following. The regularity of surviving examples—with distinctive sans serif lettering and fluted cast iron columns with ball finials—suggests that all are Corporation installations of 1907 or later. Cast iron columns began to be superseded by square section concrete posts around the early 1930s. This later version was in use on newly developed streets in 1951, and the Corporation continued to advertise tenders for the supply of glazed tile sign letters until late 1955.

Glastonbury Avenue was laid out in the later 1890s. The signs at the western end of the road, which lay along a pre-1907 tram route, were likely installed in or after 1907 but before approximately 1930.

This sign is of historic interest to the citizens of Belfast and forms part of the city's rich legacy of cast iron street furniture, which includes Parliamentary Boundary Posts, post boxes, and telephone kiosks. It has group value with other nearby listed street signs at Donegal Park Avenue, Parkmount Road, Fortwilliam Park, and a matching sign on the opposite side of Glastonbury Avenue.