Good morning fellow hivers!
We are on Day 2 of our short trip to the beautiful city of San Francisco, and on this gorgeous - and a tad chilly - morning we plan to visit some of its unique and defining architecture - the stunning Victorian homes, including the so-called Seven Painted Ladies. This is a row of pastel-colored homes, also known as Postcard Row or Seven Sisters across the Alamo Square Park, which has become a famous travel destination.
These seven Victorian homes were built in San Francisco between 1892 to 1896 by developer Matthew Kavanaugh. Patterned from architecture during the reign of Queen Victoria in England - the Victorian era - from 1837 to 1901, they were built in the signature Queen Anne style of Victorian architecture, very rich with ornate decorations.
Alamo Square Park is a good vantage point to photograph the Postcard Row. From where we were standing, on the Park hilltop, we could see the homes’ incredible height, steep roofs, and the decorated gables in front of the house.
We were facing east, and though a bit challenging with the light, we could see clearly the home’s overhanging eaves, detailed brackets, and front porches.
We could also make out the details of some of the bay windows although they were partially covered by the overgrown trees on the sidewalk.
The Seven Painted Ladies Up Close
We wanted to get a front-row view of the homes, so we climbed down Alamo Square Park, crossed Steiner street, and landed right on the sidewalk fronting the Painted Ladies.
We took individual photos of each of the seven homes, being careful not to infringe on the homeowners’ properties; these homes are owner-occupied. See the cars parked in front of the one-car garages?
Here are the colorful Painted Ladies in sequential order from left to right (or north to south). They are actually painted in a combination of three or more colors. They are all pastel, pleasing to the eyes, and not overly bright.
These three-story homes each have their unique features, but they have prominent similarities which include a unique asymmetrical facade (which beautifully defies basic elements of architecture), steep gabled roof, elevated porch on the entrance area, decorative woodwork in varying designs, stained glass windows, lacy decorative work, towers, and turrets. Since the lot sizes are small, the houses are built with bay windows to increase the square footage.
The Seven Painted Ladies, like most of the Victorian homes built in that period, were originally painted in chalky white to resemble stone. They were actually made from redwood. Needless to say, they were drab and unattractive. In the 1960s SF artist Butch Kardum experimented with painting in vibrant colors - in blues and greens - and the ‘colorist movement’ caught on.
Other Victorian Homes Around Alamo Square
There were more Victorian homes on the streets around Alamo Square so we climbed back to the Park on the hilltop, and from the walking trails snapped more photos of the surrounding architecture.
While walking around Alamo Square Park, we also took pictures of the tall trees on the hilltop, some flowers, and the airy open space.
More SF Victorians Along the Road
Here are more Victorian homes we snapped while driving down hilly San Francisco - some humongous, some not-so.
Victorian Homes on Lombard Street the "Most Crooked Street in America"
Lombard St. itself is a San Francisco travel destination. It’s a one-way downhill road on what is called Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth streets with eight sharp winding turns.
Cars line up to drive downhill on this “most crooked street in America, which is just a very short slow drive, but oh so fun!
We walked to Lombard St from our hotel, two blocks away - uphill all the way.
Then we crossed into Lombard near the cable car stop.
We finally reached the top of Lombard St. and from there even got a good view of the SF skyline.
The Fateful Years of the SF Victorians
In 1906, a catastrophic 7.9- magnitude earthquake that hit San Francisco decimated thousands of these Victorian homes. Few buildings survived. According to archives.gov, 200,000 people were left homeless.
In the 1970s, some of the homes fell into disrepair and were demolished in numbers, to give way to the City’s urban renewal projects. Some managed to be saved as part of the SF Heritage but had to be relocated. They were not as valued and esteemed then as they are today.
Well, the old 25,000 square-foot Pink painted Lady in the Postcard Row was for sale last month for a whopping $3.55 M!!
That's all for now, thanks for the read guys. Have a great summer!
[//]:# (!pinmapple 37.776616 lat -122.434286 long the painted ladies d3scr)