Painted Ladies

Painted Ladies is an American architectural term used to describe Victorian and Edwardian Houses painted 3 or more colors, coined by authors Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen when they published their book Painted Ladies: San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians in 1978. Although examples of Painted Ladies exist all over America, perhaps the most renowned are the 7 sisters located at Postcard Row in San Francisco's Alamo Square. All seven were built by Matthew Kavanaugh between 1892 and 1896, although the Victorian building boom began after the gold rush in 1849 when San Francisco's population increased from 800 to 25,000 in a single year.