Painted ladies or Six Sisters [K 1] - an architectural ensemble of six Victorian houses of the same type, built in the Annian architectural style and located in the Alamo Square district of San Francisco ( California ) at 710– 720 Steiner Street .
| Building | |
| Painted Ladies | |
|---|---|
| English Painted ladies | |
The Painted Ladies and Matthew Cavan's House (leftmost) in January 2013 | |
| A country |  USA |
| City | San Francisco |
| Type of building | Victorian house |
| Architectural style | Anninsky |
| Project Author | Matthew Cavana |
| Architect | Matthew Cavana |
| Building | 1892 - 1896 years |
| Key dates | |
| 1892-1896 - Construction 1906 - San Francisco Earthquake 1963 - The buildings acquired their bright coloring. | |
| Material | Sequoia |
In 1978, the book, Painted Ladies — The Dazzling San Francisco Victorians , was written about buildings, after which the term “Painted Ladies” began to be used to refer to brightly colored Victorian houses in other American cities..
Content
History
Construction
The boom in the construction of Victorian homes in San Francisco began after the California Gold Rush of 1849 , when the city's population grew from 800 to 25,000 in one year. After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the Victorian era in architecture changed to Edwardian. In total, more than 48,000 such houses were built between 1849 and 1915 , most of them between 1860 and 1890 . The main material for the construction was sequoia (California mahogany ), and the outside of the house was painted in chalky-white [1] , or painted in bright colors. One newspaper wrote at the time:
... red, yellow, chocolate, orange, all that is loud - everything is in fashion ... if the upper floors are not in red or blue ... they are painted with uncut panels of yellow or brown, while the pediments and dormers are decorated with tasteless and not picturesque [2] [3] ...
Original text"... 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 gables and dormers are adorned not with tasteful and picturesque ... "
The Six Sisters were built on Alamo Square between 1892 and 1896 by designer and architect Matthew Kavanaugh , who lived in a neighboring house at 722 Steiner Street [1] .
Further fate
After the earthquake of 1906, most of the houses on the Nob hill were destroyed, but the Six Sisters remained unharmed [1] .
During the First and Second World Wars, the entire decor was removed from the buildings, and they themselves were painted in battleship gray with remnants of paint belonging to the US Navy . Another 16 thousand houses were demolished, many others were covered with roofing material , brick , plaster or aluminum siding [4] .
In 1963, artist Butch Kardum and his “gang of colorists” began experimenting with bright colors on the facades of their Victorian houses - to decorate them in bright colors: from lemon and bright red to golden and turquoise . Other neighbors followed suit and also painted their homes in bright colors. Kardum later became a colorist designer , and he, along with other colorists such as Tony Canaletich, Bob Buckter, and Jason Wonders, repainted the gray houses. In the 1970s, colorists massively painted houses in San Francisco, including the famous Six Sisters, after which they received the nickname "Postcard Row" [1] .
Alice Walker lived in one of the houses, organizing mini-concerts in it with the performance of Tracey Chapman's music until the neighbors complained about the frequency of the performance of the same songs [5] .
At the moment, the buildings are under reconstruction , during which it is planned to restore the facade and redevelopment in order to replace time-damaged and obsolete structures, as well as expanding the used space by demolishing several partitions [5] [6] .
Architecture
All six buildings are three-story wooden frame houses built according to the same design and differing only in rich decor from curly wooden tiles and the color of the facade. In addition, house 720 is symmetrically opposed to the others. The main material for the construction was sequoia . Built in Annin style , the buildings are one of the characteristic examples of Victorian architecture . The gable roof is tiled , the facade is asymmetrical with a dominant triangular pediment protruding beyond the facade and supported by consoles . There is also a technical ground or basement floor in which the garage is located. On the right side of the facade there is a dominant angular tower- bay window , in which there are loggias on the first and second floors. In the left part of the facade on the ground floor there is a main entrance, in front of which there is a small porch, to which a stone staircase leads from the sidewalk. Above the main entrance on the second floor there is an open balcony , fenced with balustrades and cantilevered by two columns . On the third floor, located in the pediment, is an attic. Columns, spindles and balustrades are decorated in a classic style . Some of the window panes are decorated in the form of stained - glass windows [1] [6] [5] .
Similar buildings
For the first time, the term “decorated ladies” was used by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen to refer to San Francisco Victorian houses in the book Painted Ladies - Dazzling Victorian San Francisco ( English Painted Ladies) - San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians ), published in 1978 [7] .
Since then, “decorated ladies” have been called brightly colored Victorian houses in other American cities, in particular: Charles Village in the suburbs of Baltimore , Lafayette Square in St. Louis , agglomeration of San Francisco and New Orleans , Columbia Tuskulum in Cincinnati , Old West End in Toledo and Cape May in New Jersey [8] [9] [10] .
In Culture
Buildings often appear in the media , in tourist photographs of San Francisco and are one of the attractions of the city. They appeared in approximately 70 films , as well as in a variety of television programs and commercials , including the opening credits of the television series Full House [5] [11] .
Notes
- Comments
- ↑ The names “Six Sisters” and “Seven Sisters” are found in different sources, since the neighboring building of the similar architectural style at 722 Steiner Street , built in 1892 according to another project by Matthew Cavan, in which the ensemble’s architect himself lived, is often included in the ensemble
- Sources
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Grace Lennon. The Painted Ladies of San Francisco . Specs + spaces. Date of treatment July 21, 2015.
- ↑ Houses of the San Francisco (unknown) // The California Architects and Builders News. - 1885. - April.
- ↑ Painted Ladies - The Dazzling Victorians of San Francisco, 1978 , p. 9.
- ↑ The Painted Ladies of San Francisco . Amusing Planet. Date of treatment July 27, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Jessica Saia. Inside a Painted Lady . The Bold Italic (May 10, 2012). Date of treatment July 28, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 Restoration of an 1890's San Francisco Victorian, 2008 .
- ↑ Painted Ladies - The Dazzling Victorians of San Francisco, 1978 , p. 1–80.
- ↑ Courtemanche, Dolores. Proper Painted Ladies (unknown) // Telegram & Gazette . - 1993 .-- September. - C. G1 . - ISSN 1050-4184 .
- ↑ Curtis, Nancy H. Color It What? (unknown) // Chicago Tribune . - 1993. - July. - S. 3I . - ISSN 1085-6706 .
- ↑ Ukraine, Karen. The Victorian Rage (unknown) // Boston Herald . - 1996. - August. - S. 44 . - ISSN 0738-5854 .
- ↑ Whiting, Sam . Largest of SF's Painted Ladies up for sale , San Francisco Chronicle (February 19, 2010).
Literature
- Elizabeth Lipstick and Michael Larsen. The decorated ladies are the dazzling Victorians of San Francisco. - 1st ed. - N. Y .: EP Dutton, 1978.- 80 p. - ISBN 9780525482444 .
- Terry Way Victorian Homes Of San Francisco. - PA : Schiffer, 2009 .-- ISBN 9780764332128 .
- John Clarke Mills. Restoration of an 1890's San Francisco Victorian . - Blog, 2008.