In a stunning piece of prose he wrote for the NewYork Times called “Olde York,” David W. Dunlap describes the multilayered nature of New York as the following: “The city is not so much a tidy pile of building blocks as it is a chambered nautilus with walls of palimpsest on which the etchings of the present never entirely obscure the patterns beneath. Forever visible behind the newest layer, no matter how faint, are remnants of the civic past. New York does not forget.”

Usually, it is a challenge to decipher two or more ads in a palimpsest—a word usually used to describe when a previously written text starts to ghostly appear from under another text written on top—but this P. Zaccaro/ Bendix one was very clear and remains clear to this day. This four-story mural dominates the Delancey Street access to the Williamsburgh Bridge while traveling east on Kenmare Street near the corner of Elizabeth. Although it roughly faces south, it has been protected by the sun’s destructive power by the shade of the building across the street.

The Bendix Home Appliance Corp was founded in 1936 by Judson S. Sayre and became the largest U.S. washing machine manufacturer by 1950. Bendix introduced the first automatic front-loading washing machine in 1937 and secured the patent in 1939 with inventors John W. Chamberlin and Rex Earl Bassett Jr.

P. Zaccaro’s son, John Zaccaro—the husband of the late Geraldine Ferraro, former 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee and U.S. House of Representatives member from New York— currently owns this real estate firm. Halfway down you can read the Bendix ad for washing machines that were probably sold at J. Eis and Sons. The telephone exchange Orchard-4 is a seven-digit number that was adopted in the 1940s, which is about when I would date this sign. - Fading Ads of NYC, History Press 2011

This unframed photograph by Frank H Jump captures a piece of history with its depiction of a fading advertisement for P. Zaccaro Real Estate/Bendix Home Laundry Pentimento on Kenmare in Little Italy, NYC. The limited edition print is a stunning example of vintage mural adverts, showcasing the beauty in the decay of urban landscapes. The production technique used is Cibachrome, creating vibrant colors that enhance the subject matter. This photograph is perfect for art enthusiasts and collectors alike who appreciate the unique and often overlooked beauty of urban decay.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Frank H. Jump conceived The Fading Ad Campaign as a photographic project documenting vintage mural ads on building brick faces in New York City spanning nearly a century. It has become a metaphor for survival since, like the artist, many of these ads have long outlived their expected life span. Although this project doesn’t deal directly with HIV/AIDS, it is no accident Jump has chosen to document such a transitory and evanescent subject. Of the countless ads Jump has photographed, many have already been covered up, vandalized, or destroyed. But still many silently cling to the walls of buildings, barely noticed by the rushing passersby. Jump is a retired NYC educator and his work has been exhibited throughout the last 30 years from the N-Y Historical Society to venues in Brooklyn and as far as Athens Greece during the Summer Olympics in 2006, and more recently at the Neon Museum of Philadelphia in 2021.