A carving on the front of the Liberty Building says “Chamber of Commerce Bvilding erected MCMXXIV”. The word building includes a V instead of U. Does anyone have an explanation of why? I found 10,900 hits on Google for “bvilding” however I have not found a good explanation yet. 
For fun I have included a link to a Roman Numerial calculator created by Edward Hobbs. These photos are of the Liberty Building at 135 South Main Street. Notice the reflection of the old family court house which is across the street. 
Please note that Rome has been added in the list of city photo blogs referenced on this site. Click on the link and leave Joe a comment. Bloggers need encouragement. His January 26th photo is interesting in that it shows a contrast of old and new. I plan to ask if he knows any photo blogs in Bergamo Italy which is Greenville’s “sister city”.
January 25, 2006 - The Liberty Building
giggal said,
i’m not sure why this is still done, but i do know it comes from latin roots. the “V” and “U” were (are) the same in latin (both a consonant and a vowel).
i also remember learning that the “V” is used in inscriptions such as this when the word is capialized. otherwise, it would be “B-u-i-l-d-i-n-g” as we would expect.
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