House Gothic 23

House Gothic traces its roots back to some of the earliest Brand Design/House Industries graphic design work. The family was originally designed by Allen Mercer for use on the company’s commissions, most notably the legendary promotions for Custom Papers Group. In 1995, House released the family to the public with modest success, but it was largely relegated to the back of House’s catalogs.

House went through a bit of a sans serif obsession in the early 2000s and decided that it was time to give House Gothic its time in the spotlight. Rich Roat asked me to polish up House Gothic and make it a bit more usable. I reworked Allen’s original drawings, making the letterforms work better in headlines, added accented glyphs, reorganized the styles and more. Once that was done, I added completely new Extended and Text styles. The family more than doubled its size into 23 total fonts and was rechristened House Gothic 23.

You can order House Gothic 23 from House Industries.

House Gothic 23 Specimens


Commissioned Work