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San Francisco Information
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Sandpoint, ID
New York, NY
Washington, D.C.
Braintree, MA
San Francisco, CA
Columbus, GA
St. George Island, FL
Charleston, SC
Los Angeles, CA
Pasadena, CA
Disneyland, CA
Tropical Island
Punta Cana, Dominica
Oahu Is., Hawaii
Cebu Is., Philippines
Asian Cities
Beijing, China
Shanghai, China
Nanjing, China
Taipei, Taiwan
Manila, Philippines
Munich, Germany
Dubai, U.A.E.
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Victorian Houses
San Francisco is famous for its wooden houses, dating from between 1860 and 1900, with their brightly colored, highly decorated facades. Inspired by the rows of private terraced houses in London, they were often prefabricated and mass-produced by specialist firms such as the Real Estate Associates, who in 1875 delivered 350 of them in a single year.
The Houses had every modern convenience then available : electric lighting, central heating, running water and plumbing. In order to build them, the abundant forests of redwoods that once grew in the Bay Area were practically razed to the ground.
FACING
The planks used to cover the "balloon frame" ensured better protection against the rain.
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Although the layout, structure and materials for San Francisco's Victorian houses remained virtually unchanged throughout the 19th century, their decoration underwent several stylistic transformation. San Francisco houses were more elaborately ornamented than elsewhere, the plethora of styles reflecting a thriving society and the wealth of the middle classes, as well as fierce competition within the building industry and the carpenters' expertise. At the beginning of the 20th century styles became more subtle as society stabilized. Despite the havoc wreaked by the fires of the 1906 earthquake, a great number of these houses are still standing today. Visitors can therefore see for themselves that the stylistic diversity is restricted to the facades and that, more often than not, the houses were decorated in a composite style based on a range of standing designs.
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Click to enlarge
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Victoria House Gallery 2004, 2005
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