Stellar
Cannabis Dispensary
A corner storefront identity built entirely without internal illumination, for a site inside a designated NYC landmark district.
Existing condition, proposed signage, and dimensioned elevations for the 37th Ave and 81st St frontages.
The corner building in context, three stories of pre-war brick on a landmarked block.
The site sits inside the Jackson Heights Historic District, on a corner with two storefronts to dress: 21'-2" facing 37th Ave, 22'-8" facing 81st St. Landmark rules ruled out the usual playbook. No channel letters, no lightbox, nothing internally lit on the building face.
The identity had to carry without a single bulb behind the sign. The name is built as 3D non-illuminated letters, burgundy aluminum face over a Komacel base, mounted flat to the brick on each frontage. Identical on both sides, so the brand reads the same from either street. Below it, a new awning in Tempotest Clay Court fabric carries the full dispensary name and address in painted white, on an open-sided pipe frame that keeps the storefront glass visible. Six gooseneck fixtures wash the letters from above instead of lighting them from within, enough presence at night without tripping the illumination restriction.
The Jackson Heights Historic District boundary. The site sits well inside it, not at the edge.
Landmark compliance shows up in details that never get seen once the job is done. The gooseneck fixtures run off a junction box buried in the wall, called out on the install drawing as a landmark requirement, no surface-mounted conduit on a historic facade. The letter profile itself was drawn with no flat horizontal ledge for a bird to land on, so the sign stays clean without anyone climbing up to hose it off. Small calls, but they're the difference between a sign that passes landmark review and one that gets sent back.
Every material on the sign is picked to hold that burgundy consistently across two different substrates, aluminum face, painted awning skirt, and vinyl accent, plus a Tempotest fabric matched to the same tone. One color read, three different materials.
Material and color samples: burgundy aluminum face, painted base, Tempotest awning fabric, Avery vinyl accent.
Install section: gooseneck wiring routed to a buried junction box, letter and awning bracket construction.
Before and after, both frontages.