Postcard perfect: Seven Sisters or the Painted Ladies

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...
Painted Ladies/ Postcard Row
Painted Ladies/ Postcard Row

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.

Painted Ladies/ Postcard Row

More:
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Dee (Divya): Blogger, Freelance Content Writer & Content Strategist. | 📸 Loves tripping.🛣 Tipsy from every TRIP!😬🫣 | 🏞Follow > for intoxicating virtual trips!🥂😉
47 Comments on this post.
  • Rupertt Wind
    26 January 2012 at 5:58 am
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    The ladies are beautiful! I wonder which lucky bastards lives there?

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 5:21 am
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      Some rich guys, of that you can be sure. 🙂

  • Rahul Bhatia
    3 August 2012 at 3:27 am
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    The sisters are absolutely dashing and gorgeous! A visual splendor and a big thanks for sharing, Divya:)

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 5:22 am
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      Aren't they!
      My pleasure, Mr. Bhatia.

  • Subhorup Dasgupta
    3 August 2012 at 4:03 am
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    this was new for me, divya. thanks for sharing this beautiful landmark. maybe someday i will see them for real.

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 5:25 am
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      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.

  • AmitAag
    3 August 2012 at 4:30 am
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    …perfect sisters perfectly captured:)
    Thank you Divya, I love your posts!

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 5:29 am
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      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.

  • magiceye
    3 August 2012 at 6:23 am
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    Vintage beauties!

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 6:21 pm
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      And a photographer's delight. I wish 'you' could take some pictures of these beauties.

  • Rachna
    3 August 2012 at 8:01 am
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    The proud sisters seem to be smiling :).

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 6:27 pm
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      Yeah…proud and pretty. 🙂

  • jaish_vats
    3 August 2012 at 9:08 am
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    That was a new thing I learnt today Divya. Thanks for sharing. Btw how old are these houses?

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 6:28 pm
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      So glad Jaish. My pleasure.
      They came into being in the 1890s.

  • Ghazala Hossain
    3 August 2012 at 12:52 pm
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    Drool Drool..! Love the seven sister, they are dreamsome 🙂

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 6:29 pm
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      They really are lovely.

  • Mak
    3 August 2012 at 4:38 pm
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    Gorgeous 🙂
    Lovely pictures…

    • dNambiar
      3 August 2012 at 6:29 pm
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      Thanks Mak. 🙂

  • Sabyasachi Patra | Tales from Wild India
    4 August 2012 at 6:29 am
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    Nice view. I would prefer to live in one such building inside a jungle so that no views of other manmade structures. 🙂

    • dNambiar
      5 August 2012 at 4:22 am
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      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.

  • Rajnish
    4 August 2012 at 6:36 am
    Leave a Reply
    • dNambiar
      5 August 2012 at 4:22 am
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      I'm glad. Thank you so much, Rajnish.

  • Arti
    4 August 2012 at 9:04 am
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    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 🙂

    • dNambiar
      5 August 2012 at 4:26 am
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      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.

  • Akshay Kumar G
    4 August 2012 at 9:43 am
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    So beautiful, I had no idea about the Painted Ladies. These Postcard Rows sure do look picture perfect. 🙂

    • dNambiar
      5 August 2012 at 4:27 am
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      Aren't they lovely, Akkishakki!
      SF has a lot of these gorgeous-looking Victorian houses.
      Thank you for coming by. 🙂

  • indu chhibber
    4 August 2012 at 1:43 pm
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    very beautiful sisters…they are so old but none of the owners have made any changes on the facade-admirable.

    • dNambiar
      5 August 2012 at 4:29 am
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      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? 🙂

  • Panchali
    4 August 2012 at 6:58 pm
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    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.

    • dNambiar
      5 August 2012 at 4:35 am
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      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?

  • Sneo
    4 August 2012 at 7:43 pm
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    great blog! Will be back soon

    • dNambiar
      5 August 2012 at 4:36 am
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      Thank you so much, Sneha,
      Anytime. Welcome here.

  • umashankar
    5 August 2012 at 12:16 pm
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    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.

    • dNambiar
      7 August 2012 at 12:20 am
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      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.

    • dNambiar
      7 August 2012 at 12:21 am
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      And thank you so much for your support. It's always nice to hear from you. 🙂

  • Ashwini
    5 August 2012 at 3:36 pm
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    Awesome post!!! D. your posts are making me more and more anxious to visit SF once again 😉

    • dNambiar
      7 August 2012 at 12:23 am
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      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?

  • Nona
    7 August 2012 at 9:32 am
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    I think I have passed through this street. 🙂

    • dNambiar
      7 August 2012 at 5:11 pm
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      🙂
      Aren't Victorian houses gorgeous!

  • debajyoti
    8 August 2012 at 1:09 am
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    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.

    • dNambiar
      9 August 2012 at 4:42 pm
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      :)Thanks to the guide who took us there. She was pretty good.
      Thanks Deb.

  • muthu
    11 August 2012 at 2:53 am
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    They do look lovely.

    • dNambiar
      14 August 2012 at 6:59 pm
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      Don't they! 🙂

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