Victorian, Edwardian, and Modern

 

Here are Painted Ladies of San Francisco (all seven of them). Pictures like this sold as postcards, wall calendars, freezer magnets etc. They are symbol of San Francisco as much as Golden Gate Bridge, Colt Tower  or Ferry Building.    

But it would be  not fair to say that the  name: "Painted Ladies" applied only to these seven. There are many other houses from Victorian or Edwardian times which are  painted in bright, joyful colors. Like this house at the corner of Franklin  and California.

Or these two. They are a  more modest, but still beautiful. 

There are many thousands  houses which were built during Victorian or Edwardian eras (second half of nineteen  or beginning  of twentieth century). A lot of them were destroyed in 1906 by infamous earthquake and subsequent fire.  But some survived and/or were restored. As of now there are around forty eight thousand homes from that time. And name "Painted Lady" could be  applied to most of them.  But  were they aways know  under such a name? Absolutely not. Here is Haas–Lilienthal House  house 2007 Franklin Street. It was originally built  in 1886 by merchant William Haas. It survived earthquake and stayed with Haas family for almost one hundred years. In 1972 Haas descendants donated this home to the public. 

I believe this house now looks  approximately the same way  it looked in 1886 (apart of the fact that there were no cars in front, maybe horse carriages). While house looks magnificent, its colors are very modest compare to Painted Ladies.   San Francisco houses got there bright paint covers in sixties and seventies. Until that most of the were panted in grey (right after end  of WWII   there was surplus of grey paint originally  used for navy ships). In that respect I would like to present you this photo: 

On the left you see house which could be qualified as Painted Lady (not brightest of them but close enough). On the right there is house painted mostly in grey with small white touch.  That, probably, how most Victorian homes looked after WWII. And in the middle you can see well known Tetris House. It was renovated by professional artist  Xavi Panneton   in 2023 and it represents latest trend in house decoration of San Francisco. Most likely we will see more of that in the nearest future.

And some  more photos which show that street art could be applied even to  dull utilitarian modern building...  

... or  to the means of transportation.