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Painted Ladies: Victorian Architecture

© Peggy Hoehne

Painted Ladies: Victorian Architecture

Painted Ladies, you still see them in nearly every town that has been around since the 19th century. They are the Victorian, especially Queen Anne, style houses painted in multiple colors. Queen Anne's are the most elaborate of the Victorian architectural styles. Some of the Painted Ladies are famous, like the ones in San Francisco, but every little town has one or two still being lovingly kept up and painted in the colorful arrays that gave them their name. Their name came from the famous multi-colored Victorian houses that helped transform several San Francisco communities. Later, other once neglected neighborhoods in across the country began restoring their Victorians.

You'll recognize them by a number of distinguishing characteristics. They are tall, two and a half to three and half stories. Numerous balconies and large porches, often several porches, are common in Queen Anne houses, as well as the occasional tower. Queen Anne's are asymmetrical and have gabled roofs. On the gable ends they will have half timbering, shingled insets, or wooden relief decorations. Angled bay windows under the gable, vertical windows, and stained glass windows were features of the Queen Anne. Typically they will have corbelled chimneys, corbelling is stone or wood projecting from a wall or chimney for support or decoration. Unlike some of the newer houses being built in this style, the originals will have massive cutstone foundations instead of poured concrete.

The time frame for Victorian architecture is roughly 1825 to 1900. To create their designs, the architects drew upon history, nature, geometry, theory, and personal inspiration. They loved the romance of earlier times, of castles and brooding Gothics in a medieval style. The Painted Ladies began to immerge toward the end of the 19th century. Up to that point houses were generally painted all one color, usually white, beige or gray. By 1887 the brighter, more vibrant colors were becoming popular. Painted Ladies were originally painted in darker, more 'earth tone' colors, such as hunter green, sienna red, burnt yellow, and brown.

After the Victorian era most of these houses were painted white, as was common for most homes before the Civil War. In the 1960s and 1970s a resurgence of interest in these fine old houses led to them being painted once again in several bright colors. Today most of the colors are lighter and brighter. True Painted Ladies will have at least three colors, often four colors used to highlight the architecture's ruffles and flourishes. Some have been intricately painted using as many as ten, fifteen, or more shades.

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