Builders have uncovered a piece of art, graffiti-style, which managed to survive the devastating fire that ravaged the building July 2013.

Thanks to some family and friends, the man behind the signature was tracked down, and was amazed to hear the work had survived the fire.

Rex Hone, a photographer for the paper back in the 1990s, was taken back to a time before mobile phones and social media.

"We were always pretty busy, the journos and photographers, but in between jobs I would hang out in the dark room, and took to making some art on the walls," he remembered.

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"We had a lot of signatures on the walls, it was the time after Don MacKay, and we had signatures from famous journos and photographers on the walls, so I went about making it look nice."

When an editor at the time came in and saw the walls, he ordered them to be painted over.

"The guy they paid to do it took one look and said he'd paint everything except that. I don't know what it was about the piece, but he didn't paint over it."

Always partaking in artistic pursuits, a trait he credits his mother with, he remembers what inspired him back in 1996.

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"As far as that one went, it was after I had watched a Rage Against the Machine clip. The 90s in Griffith had a lot of bands around, and saxophones were still pretty cool, so I remember throwing that in there as well."

Surviving a paint-happy editor and a baptism of fire, the artwork will remain in place, thanks to a decision by current owners and renovators Robert Cappello and Pat Sergi.

"Robert and myself decided it will stay - it represents a piece of Griffith's history, and it will be now kept into the future," Mr Sergi said.

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