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Amazing how things we take for granted now were simply unnecessary in the past:

Road signs were virtually nonexistent, Bauer says, because until cars came along there was no need for them. Long trips were made by train, and virtually all short trips were made by local people who already had a mental map of the roads in their area.

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This is particularly visible in Europe, where magnificent centuries-old buildings are constantly scarred by road and parking signs (as well as advertising billboards).

Indeed, every time I visit "old" Europe I notice how street signs tend to be (a) small, and (b) attached to buildings; but it never occurred to me until reading this article that this could be largely explained by the fact that they didn't need street signs until recently.

I can't say I remember a building in Western Europe where traffic signs were mounted on buildings. In cities it's either on or at the edge of sidewalks.

I'm talking about names of streets, not traffic signs.

See Strasbourg for example: https://www.google.de/maps/@48.5827359,7.7525392,3a,49.9y,21...

In any Italian city, "no parking" signs are absolutely everywhere on buildings. If the road is tight enough (which means medieval streets, usually), road signs will also be on buildings, because there is no space for alternatives.

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