Our State Magazine Features Ratcliffe’s Flowers Original Shop

Source: www.ourstate.com

Click here to read Our State Magazine’s North Carolina in Neon featuring Ratcliffe’s Flowers original shop on N. Tryon Street. Though the retail shop closed in the 80’s, our family family pivoted still serves the Charlotte community as Derita Floral Supply Co.

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Ratcliffe’s Flowers - Charlotte

“In a city that’s ever-changing, the Ratcliffe’s Flowers sign has shone on Tryon Street for nearly a century. Crafted by Ernest Grady, a statewide pioneer in the art of neon, the Art Deco-style sign was installed in 1929 on a new building commissioned by Louis Ratcliffe Sr. during Charlotte’s building boom. Neon signs continued to pop up in the area, but as change continued into the 1960s, many businesses agreed to remove them in favor of more modern designs. Louis Ratcliffe Jr., who had taken over his father’s shop, refused to take his down. “At that time, it was just another sign that downtown business associations wanted gone,” says Christopher S. Lawing, founder of the Charlotte Signs Project, which documents and preserves the city’s historic signage. “Today it is hailed as a beautiful piece of cultural art.” Ratcliffe’s closed in the 1980s, but the sign remained. In 2000, the building was relocated, and the sign was later removed, restored, and reinstalled at 431 South Tryon Street, where it was honored with a relighting ceremony.”