Call them Seven Sisters or the Painted Ladies; these seven beautiful ladies add a dash of unequaled charm to the city called San Francisco. We all know that San Francisco cannot quite be separated from its Victorian architecture but the Seven Sisters make a picture that will remain imprinted in one’s mind forever. I remember noticing these attractive homes in several movies. I had seen several photographs too. A few days ago I got see them up close, take pictures and drive by these lovelies.
They are gorgeous!
The Seven Sisters live in Alamo Square, a locality known for its stately Victorian homes. In the middle of this square is a park that allows you to sit and ogle at the Victorian beauties. The highlight of this neighbourhood surely must be the Seven Sisters, which is a row of seven houses, although painted in different colours, are identical in structure. They attract a lot of people, both locals and whole lot of tourists, so much so that it has become a prime point in the tourist map of San Francisco.
The first of the seven sisters — I am told — was the home of Matthew Kavanugh, a builder. Apparently he owned some land beside that house so he built 3 other houses somewhat similar to his own, at the far end of the plot. When these buildings sold for a good price, he filled the space in between with some more buildings and there it was – the Seven Sisters.
‘Painted Ladies,’ I just learnt, actually refers to Victorian houses that are painted with three or more colours. The colours are said to be one of the distinct characteristics of Victorian constructions, apart from the ornate details on them. That reminds me that our tour guide happened to tell us that one of the seven houses recently had a new coat of paint and it cost the owner fifty thousand dollars for the colour job.
The Seven Sisters will surely be on the itinerary if you chose to do one of San Francisco’s Victorian Home Tours. Take it from me — you’ll fall in love with them too.
By the way, these Painted Ladies or the Seven Sisters are also known as Postcard Row; it’s not difficult to see why.
More:
Sights to see in San Francisco
About ‘The City’
The ladies are beautiful! I wonder which lucky bastards lives there?
Some rich guys, of that you can be sure. 🙂
The sisters are absolutely dashing and gorgeous! A visual splendor and a big thanks for sharing, Divya:)
Aren't they!
My pleasure, Mr. Bhatia.
this was new for me, divya. thanks for sharing this beautiful landmark. maybe someday i will see them for real.
This place can be seen in a lot of shows/movies shot in SF. I think I had a glimpse of these houses in My Name is Khan, too.
They really are beautiful. I do hope you'd get to see them sometime soon.
…perfect sisters perfectly captured:)
Thank you Divya, I love your posts!
Thank you so much. That day there was no way I could have got a shot of them without the people who sat looking at it. But I think that was good too; this is proof of how many people sit and stare at these Painted Ladies. If I'd had more time, I'd have done that myself, for the rest of the day. 🙂
You made my day, Amit. Thank YOU.
Vintage beauties!
And a photographer's delight. I wish 'you' could take some pictures of these beauties.
The proud sisters seem to be smiling :).
Yeah…proud and pretty. 🙂
That was a new thing I learnt today Divya. Thanks for sharing. Btw how old are these houses?
So glad Jaish. My pleasure.
They came into being in the 1890s.
Drool Drool..! Love the seven sister, they are dreamsome 🙂
They really are lovely.
Gorgeous 🙂
Lovely pictures…
Thanks Mak. 🙂
Nice view. I would prefer to live in one such building inside a jungle so that no views of other manmade structures. 🙂
That would be perfect. That way you wont have tourists camping outside and it'll be just right to watch wild animals too.
Mr. Patra, I read your post on elephant tales. The captcha wasn't allowing me to comment. Shall try once again.
Loved the pic of beautiful structure. Nice post..
http://www.duringmytimes.com/
I'm glad. Thank you so much, Rajnish.
Ah, lovely! The sisters also seem to share a nice loving bond between them! I will be there when (and if!) I travel to San Francisco someday 🙂
You should, Arti. I hope you get to travel this side sometime. SF has a little Japanese history too. 🙂
I've been enjoying your Japan posts.
So beautiful, I had no idea about the Painted Ladies. These Postcard Rows sure do look picture perfect. 🙂
Aren't they lovely, Akkishakki!
SF has a lot of these gorgeous-looking Victorian houses.
Thank you for coming by. 🙂
very beautiful sisters…they are so old but none of the owners have made any changes on the facade-admirable.
Yeah, they're really old. There are a lot of ancient homes around here Indu. They're maintained very well, hence their long lives.
Beautiful, aren't they? 🙂
Aha…Elegant Victorian sisters! But, why is the one to the left looks different..? Must be the odd one out…LOL:)
Are they really called seven sisters?
Thanks for sharing, Divya.
You noticed that! I believe that was the first one, the one that was Kavanugh's house.
Yeah, they're called Seven Sisters, Painted ladies and Postcard Row. Such adorable names, na?
great blog! Will be back soon
Thank you so much, Sneha,
Anytime. Welcome here.
Perfect shots of perfect ladies. I loved the way you whisked up romance in a set of Victorian houses, imparting them human sensibilities. Its time I get truly jealous of you, for being there! As usual, your images and the descriptions of the places are impeccable.
Thank you USP, this is a old post. I thought I didn't do justice to the pics. I didn't want to have a heavy page and so played on the resolution, a little too much. I was wondering if I should take down the pictures, make them a little sharper and put them back.
These houses are actually called Seven Sisters and Painted Ladies, couldn't help but think of them that way. Aren't they gorgeous! I wanted to sit and stare at them a little longer. I guess I should go again. 🙂
USP, you should try an visit San Francisco. Believe me, you'll fall in love with it's charm.
And thank you so much for your support. It's always nice to hear from you. 🙂
Awesome post!!! D. your posts are making me more and more anxious to visit SF once again 😉
Ashwini, SF's a city that makes you want to come back to it, again and again. You should visit again and check out all that you missed out last time. It's been a while since you put up a travel post, right?
I think I have passed through this street. 🙂
🙂
Aren't Victorian houses gorgeous!
as usual, i was going through wiki and other sites for more info. found quite a few articles on seven sisters but i guess you covered everything.
:)Thanks to the guide who took us there. She was pretty good.
Thanks Deb.
They do look lovely.
Don't they! 🙂
[…] The Painted Ladies The Crookedest Street […]
[…] The Painted Ladies The Crookedest Street Share Tagged Art and Architecture, California, Greek and Roman Architecture, Our World, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, San Francisco landmark, SF attraction, Travel Album, Travel Photos, What to do in San Francisco. Bookmark the permalink. « A hike into Elephant Seal territory Rainbow, Waldo or Robin Williams? » […]
[…] to ‘The City,’ we’ve seen and driven through its famous bridges, oggled at the Painted Ladies and other architectural beauties, appreciated art in its museums and on the city streets, savored […]
[…] San Francisco – Marin cruise Golden Gate Bridge in pics Palace of Fine Arts The Painted Ladies Victorian San Francisco Sculpture Garden Lombard – The Crookedest Street San Francisco’s own […]