San Francisco "Painted Lady" gets pixelated makeover

[_osivot]

There are no official painted ladies in SF, it is a style of re-paint that is popular for Victorian homes. The Alamo Square ones are just well known examples.

Painted ladies

[grp000]

No, when these Victorian homes were first built, they were painted in muted colors. The trend of painting these homes in bright, expressive colors didn’t start until the late 1960s and 1970s. So, NO, the original Victorians would be appalled by the colors and patterns in this home.

[sqlrob]

Didn’t or couldn’t?

[gatto]

to be fair, the victorians probably wouldn’t appreciate a lot about modern society.

they had cool hair jewelry for deceased loved ones and amazing mourning cards, but other than that i don’t lose much sleep over what they may or may not think about the ways we go about things.

[nick_warr]

I’m pretty appalled by what the Victorians did under the guise of being the most “enlightened, civilized society” which they used to justify things like imperialism.

[catsidhe]

Which Victorian pigment should we use, then? Scheele’s Green? London Purple? Thénard’s Blue?

[ClutchLinkey]

@grp000

when these Victorian homes were first built, they were painted in muted colors.

Because, as @Jonathan_Mayo noted, that was the only palette available to them.

@grp000

original Victorians would be appalled by the colors and patterns in this home

Maybe, but we’ll never know for sure about the colors, at least, since they didn’t even have the option.

[Otherbrother]

@grp000

No, when these Victorian homes were first built, they were painted in muted colors.

The Wikipedia article above includes this contemporary quote from 1885:

Something on the order of 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). 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 …”[7]

So that would seem to indicate that these houses were not necessarily painted in muted colors even back when they were new.

People who are upset about loud colors on San Francisco victorians would probably hate the idea of colorfully painted ancient statues.

The white lie we've been told about Roman statues

[TornPaperNapkin]

Holy shit that looks cool! There is this house in a neighborhood I drive through frequently and whomever lives there or owns the place painted like a pixel mosaic on their bricks. Every time I drive down that street I’m kind of enthusiastic to see the color.

I know some people hate this, but it brings me joy.

[TornPaperNapkin]

Yeah when it comes to interior textiles and wallpapers the bright and bold colors seemed to rule the day during that time.

I think the physical limitations of paint had a breakthrough in part because the Victorians had so much demand for the brightest colors they could fabricate. Lots of bright colors even now means frequent retouching, but the paint would have been more expensive, more reactive to sunlight, more dangerous to work with, and less climate resistant. When it comes to mass fashion physics and economics tend to be at odds from time to time with expression and innovation.

[blackeye]

@Otherbrother

colorfully painted ancient statues

oh my