FAYETTEVILLE — A fading, painted advertisement that loomed over downtown for decades is gone, covered by exterior renovations to the building where it has long offered passers-by a “delicious and refreshing Coca-Cola.”
Workers have covered the brick wall on which the sign was painted with a synthetic stucco as part of renovations to the building that houses West Mountain Brewing Co. on the downtown square.
The property, at 21 W. Mountain St., is owned by John Bradberry.
Coca-Cola signs painted in the early 1900s are a staple of American marketing history. The company painted large signs on the sides of buildings in towns big and small. Many have faded, but some have been restored as a part of some communities’ historic preservation efforts.
Don Marr, Mayor Lioneld Jordan’s chief of staff, said Bradberry approached the administration in 2009 about his desire to restore the sign. The administration was initially supportive of the request as long as it fell within the parameters of the Fayetteville sign ordinance, Marr said.
City Attorney Kit Williams confirmed Tuesday even if Bradberry still wanted to restore the aging sign, the city’s sign ordinance would not have permitted it.
Williams said the size and the placement of the ad are both illegal in Fayetteville.
“It’s too big in relation to the rest of the building,” he said. “You can only cover a percentage of your wall. Most importantly, it wasn’t a Coca-Cola building.”
The ordinance prohibits signs advertising a business in another location, such as billboards or signs painted on the sides of buildings.
After the 2009 request, Williams and Jeremy Pate, the city’s development service director, determined a restoration would be illegal in Fayetteville unless the sign ordinance was changed. The ordinance has withstood a court challenge, and Williams has frequently advised city leaders making changes can weaken the ordinance in terms of defending it against other challenges.
Once the city determined the ordinance would not allow a restoration, “that’s when the dialogue stopped” with Bradberry, Marr said.
The city ordinance, which has been in place about 30 years, forced the removal of several nonconforming billboard-style signs over the course of seven years.
“We can’t pick and choose which signs we like and don’t like,” Williams said. “The federal courts don’t like any discretion in that area. I don’t know why the Coca-Cola ad wasn’t removed back then. It may have been so faded at the time that it wasn’t viewed as a regular sign.”
Williams said Bradberry would have been allowed to keep the Coca-Cola advertisement in its original state. Williams said no one ordered him to cover it.
Charlie Alison, a local historian, said the Coca-Cola advertisement was likely painted in the 1920s.
He said local history buffs are sure to be saddened by the painting’s disappearance.
“I think there’s only a couple buildings in the square that show any kind of sense of historic structure, at least on the exterior,” Alison said. “If we want to turn the square into something that’s new and shiny and glittery, then that’s something that can be done. But I think people who care about history and about historic structures and what they say about the community would be sad to lose another wall.”
Calls to Bradberry on Tuesday were not returned.