Grand Central

In 1846, the French designer Louis Perrin created a typeface from his own personal reinterpretation of ancient Roman lettering. Soon after, sign painters and typefounders copied this new “French Oldstyle” with their own alterations. In the following decades, signpainters and typefounders would copy and alter this new style, often calling it “French Oldstyle”. When Grand Central Terminal opened in 1913, signpainters used an American take on this style in making notices and directions throughout the building. In 1994, a full renovation of Grand Central Terminal began. To keep new locator maps and signage in harmony with the old lettering, Tobias Frere-Jones was hired to design a typeface in Grand Central’s distinct Beaux-Arts style. He studied decades of archive photography to compile the original lettering for the Light. After consulting trade manuals from the period, he drew the bold to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which established precise rules for signage type. [frerejones.com]

Originally released by Font Bureau in 1998 and moved to Frere–Jones Type in 2020 [fontsinuse.com], available through Type Network and added to the foundry’s website in December 2024.