Painted Ladies - wikipedia Painted Ladies For other uses, see Painted Lady ( disambiguation ). `` Painted Ladies '' near Alamo Square, San Francisco, California In American architecture, painted ladies are Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details. The term was first used for San Francisco Victorian houses by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book Painted Ladies - San Francisco 's Resplendent Victorians. Since then the term has also been used to describe groups of colorful Victorian houses in other American cities, such as the Charles Village neighborhood in Baltimore, Lafayette Square in St. Louis, the greater San Francisco and New Orleans areas, Columbia - Tusculum in Cincinnati, the Old West End in Toledo, Ohio, the neighborhoods of McKnight and Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts and the city of Cape May, New Jersey. Contents 1 San Francisco 's painted ladies 2 See also 3 References 4 Further reading San Francisco 's painted Ladies These Victorian rowhouses are in the Haight - Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, California About 48,000 houses in the Victorian and Edwardian styles were built in San Francisco between 1849 and 1915 ( with the change from Victorian to Edwardian occurring on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 ), and many were painted in bright colors. As one newspaper critic noted in 1885, ``... red, yellow, chocolate, orange, everything that is loud is in fashion... if the upper stories are not of red or blue... they are painted up into uncouth panels of yellow and brown... '' While many of the mansions of Nob Hill were destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, thousands of the mass - produced, more modest houses survived in the western and southern neighborhoods of the city. Painted Ladies in the Lower Haight, San Francisco, California During World War I and World War II, many of these houses were painted battleship gray with war - surplus Navy paint. Another sixteen thousand were demolished, and many others had the Victorian decor stripped off or covered with tarpaper, brick, stucco, or aluminum siding. In 1963, San Francisco artist Butch Kardum began combining intense blues and greens on the exterior of his Italianate - style Victorian house. His house was criticized by some, but other neighbors began to copy the bright colors on their own houses. Kardum became a color designer, and he and other artists / colorists such as Tony Canaletich, Bob Buckter, and Jazon Wonders began to transform dozens of gray houses into Painted Ladies. By the 1970s, the colorist movement, as it was called, had changed entire streets and neighborhoods. This process continues to this day. One of the best - known groups of `` Painted Ladies '' is the row of Victorian houses at 710 -- 720 Steiner Street, across from Alamo Square park, in San Francisco. It is sometimes known as `` Postcard Row. '' The houses were built between 1892 and 1896 by developer Matthew Kavanaugh, who lived next door in the 1892 mansion at 722 Steiner Street. This block appears very frequently in media and mass - market photographs of the city and its tourist attractions and has appeared in an estimated 70 movies, TV programs, and ads, including in the opening credits of the television series Full House. The C.A. Belden House, a Queen Anne Victorian in the Pacific Heights section of San Francisco on Gough Street between Clay and Washington streets. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places. See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to Painted Ladies. San Francisco Bay Area portal Terraced house Look up painted lady in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. References Jump up ^ Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, Painted Ladies - San Francisco 's Resplendent Victorians E.P. Dutton, New York, 1978. ISBN 9780525482444 Jump up ^ Courtemanche, Dolores ( September 23, 1990 ), `` Proper Painted Ladies '', Telegram & Gazette, p. G1, ISSN 1050 - 4184 Jump up ^ Curtis, Nancy H. ( July 25, 1993 ), `` Color It What ? '', Chicago Tribune, p. 3I, ISSN 1085 - 6706 Jump up ^ Ukraine, Karen ( August 2, 1996 ), `` The Victorian Rage '', Boston Herald, p. 44, ISSN 0738 - 5854 Jump up ^ California Architects and Builders News, April 1885. Jump up ^ Whiting, Sam ( 2010 - 02 - 19 ). `` Largest of S.F. 's Painted Ladies up for sale ''. San Francisco Chronicle. Further reading Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, Painted Ladies - San Francisco 's Resplendent Victorians E.P. Dutton, New York, 1978 Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, Daughters of Painted Ladies, E.P. Dutton, New York, 1987 Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, The Painted Ladies Guide to Victorian California E.P. Dutton, New York Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, America 's Painted Ladies, E.P. Dutton, New York, 1992 Terry Way, `` Victorian Homes Of San Francisco '', Schiffer, PA 2009 ISBN 9780764332128 John Clarke Mills, `` Restoration of an 1890 's San Francisco Victorian '', Blog, 2008 San Francisco attractions Landmarks 49 - Mile Drive Alcatraz Bay Bridge Cable Cars The Castro Chinatown City Hall Cliff House Coit Tower F - Market Streetcar Fairmont Hotel Federal Reserve Bank Ferry Building Fisherman 's Wharf Fort Mason Fort Point Ghirardelli Square Golden Gate Bridge Grace Cathedral Haight - Ashbury Jack Kerouac Alley Lombard Street Mark Hopkins Hotel Market Street Mission Dolores Nob Hill North Beach Old U.S. Mint Painted ladies Palace of Fine Arts Pier 39 Public Library Sutro Baths Sutro Tower Transamerica Pyramid Treasure Island Union Square Museums and art Asian Art Museum Aquarium of the Bay Cable Car Museum California Academy of Sciences Cartoon Art Museum Children 's Creativity Museum Chinese Historical Society Museum Conservatory of Flowers Contemporary Jewish Museum The Walt Disney Family Museum de Young Museum Exploratorium Haas - Lilienthal House Legion of Honor Musée Mécanique Museo ItaloAmericano Museum of Performance & Design Museum of the African Diaspora Precita Eyes Randall Museum Ripley 's Believe It or Not ! San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Francisco Maritime Railway Museum USS Pampanito Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts Parks and recreation Alamo Square Bay Area Ridge Trail Candlestick Point Corona Heights Crissy Field Dolores Park Glen Canyon Golden Gate National Recreation Area Golden Gate Park Lafayette Park Lake Merced Marina Green McLaren Park Mount Davidson Mount Sutro Ocean Beach The Presidio San Francisco Bay Trail San Francisco Zoo Stern Grove Twin Peaks Yerba Buena Gardens Views Coit Tower Twin Peaks Seal Rocks / Ocean Beach Baker Beach Golden Gate Bridge Fort Funston Hamon Observation Tower at the de Young Museum Strawberry Hill Crissy Field Pacific Heights Alamo Square / Painted Ladies Top of the Mark Alcatraz Treasure Island Lombard Street Powell - Hyde Cable Car Ferry Building Bernal Hill 49 - Mile Scenic Drive Hawk Hill Fort Baker Entertainment American Conservatory Theater Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Cow Palace The Fillmore War Memorial and Performing Arts Center Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Sports San Francisco Giants AT&T Park Candlestick Park Kezar Stadium Food and drink Anchor Steam Boudin Bakery Buena Vista Cafe Dungeness crab Ghirardelli Square Tadich Grill Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar Top of the Mark Shopping Metreon Stonestown Galleria Union Square Westfield San Francisco Centre National Register of Historic Places listings in San Francisco Coordinates : 37 ° 46 ′ 35 '' N 122 ° 25 ′ 59 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 37.77639 ° N 122.43306 ° W ﻿ / 37.77639 ; - 122.43306 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Painted_ladies&oldid=805686645 '' Categories : House styles Victorian architecture Victorian architecture in California Victorian architectural styles American architectural styles Buildings and structures in San Francisco Tourist attractions in San Francisco Talk Views Contents About Wikipedia Dansk Deutsch Español Français עברית Nederlands Русский Simple English 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 17 October 2017, at 00 : 14. 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Question: what is the significance of the painted ladies
Answer: Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details