I like it but don't think it would work on just any home. I think the detail in the victorian architecture keeps it from feeling really heavy like it would on a simpler facade. I would change the door color to something that maybe pops a bit more.

Too bad there is so much concrete in front also. I understand parking is at a premium, but knocking out a couple of concrete squares and adding some landscaping would look great in front of the steps and beside the driveway.

i love it. and i'm glad the door color doesn't dazzle. it was a nice surprise to look at the second pic and notice the door, stairs and garage door were in shades fo blue. i saw the garage door in pic #1 but it didn't register with me until i saw the other blues. nicely done.

*of blue.

I think it is kind of depressing. I can just picture the beautiful "painted lady" colors that they covered up.

LOVE. everytime I see a house painted black I rejoice. Victorians, Queen Anne's, vacation A frames... midcentury... dingbat... all sing, but the 19th early 20th century stuff in black is truly the fat lady. Black is the bee's knees, the cat's etc. Renoir called black "the queen of colors." And trees and shrubs look amazing next to it... it's msg for greenery.

darn that apostrophe in the meant to be plural Queen Annes... I am so going to get it for that.

I have walked by this house several times... love the black, love the blue too, but I hate the garage door. I don't object to contemporary additions to Victorian houses per se, but I don't think this one works very well. The garage door is really the first thing the eye is drawn to, especially from the pedestrian's perspective, which is unfortunate for such a lovely house.

It's an odd choice, as if they had wanted a modern house but settled on a historic victorian instead. The end result looks kind of evil.

At first I didn't love it, but then I checked out the interiors at Freshome, and holy wow! So lovely, and it's the beauty of the inside that for me helps the black make sense. I do wish there were more on the exterior that hinted at the brilliance within. As is, it could easily be taken for someone letting their 14 yr old angry/sad/emo son call the design shots. Though I do like the frong and garage door colors. I agree, something to soften the concrete would help. Even just painting the area below the stairs something more inviting.

I agree, it looks kind of evil, and the garage door doesn't work. Maybe if it had *something* cheerful about it--a brightly colored door/trim, landscaping, flower boxes/potted plants, etc.--I could go with it, but right now the house appears to be in mourning.

I like it. I think it works for this house.

The only thing I don' like about it is that it really takes away from all the beautiful detail of the house's exterior. Barring that, I do kind of like it.

I like it- I think it works great with the structure. I hope the inside is bright and cheery though!

Why ruin a house with an ugly paint job such as this? If anything, paint it funky, like purple, green, yellow and blue or something.

Love the black. And it's not too far off from being historically correct, either. The colorful paint jobs we associate with the "Painted Ladies" only came about in the past few decades. Real Victorian homes were painted kind of drab colors to mimic stone.

"...can just picture the beautiful "painted lady" colors that they covered up."

"Too bad there is so much concrete in front also...
...and adding some landscaping would look great in front of the steps and beside the driveway."

Neither of you have spent much time in SF, have you?

There are only a small percentage of true "Painted Ladies" - The vast majority of Victorians in this town haven't been anything special to gaze upon since before WWII.

As far as the space in front of the steps - that's the sidewalk...
...and in certain neighborhoods - put a nice plant in the ground today, see an empty hole in the ground tomorrow morning.

It's very Darth Vader.

Hm, it's interesting... I imagine that it's not very energy efficient though, wouldn't it heat up terribly during the summer?

I don't like it at all. I can't help shaking the black= evil association. Houses like that are kind of haunted housey to begin with.

Leave it. It's pretty dreary.

I don't know about the modern-styled glass garage door, but the black paint is very exotic, in a way.

That's Metal.

Tim Burton-esque. Therefore, cool.

On it's own it looks great but I don't know about how it looks with the rest of the homes on the street.

It does need some landscaping. How about a green mural on the cement steps if the area is prone to theft.

And if you look at the interiors, yes these people wanted modern.

Where is this located?

Reminds me of "Church of Satan" founder Anton LeVey's old home, which used to be located on California Street near 23rd Avenue, in San Francisco. I used to live in that neighborhood, and every now and then, kids would show up in the area looking for his home.

Does a nice job of making a QA house look less gushy and lace like.

SF does have a ton of concrete. I find it really ugly. I'd think these folks could put a planter on the landing railway/wall and put some inexpensive greenery in it - not too big of a loss if it gets messed with.

"wouldn't it heat up terribly during the summer?"

Summer in San Francisco is 2 weeks long between Late September and early October - when it's rarely more than 90 degrees.

What the rest of the country considers "Summer" (May-August) is when we freeze to death because of the fog - We're lucky if it hits 68 degrees...
...much like the other 9 months of the year.

"Where is this located?"

Noe Valley.
LeVey's house was in the Richmond.

I saw something similar a while back The house was painted black, dark dark green, and dark purple. It brought out the architectural details.. and look great. The dark green and purple worked well with the landscaping.

I think it's GREAT. You can tell it looks a hell of a lot better than the houses on either side! I saw a black house on "curb appeal:the block" recently and I'm warming up to the idea!

Another vote for great! Love the blue front door, and the garage door, also. I don't think there are many instances where black would work as an allover exterior paint color, but this does.

I think I'd like it if it wasn't ALL black, if there was some lighter coloured trim mixed in.

Not really my style, but not bad ... at least in San Francisco.

We had a neighbor in Austin, Texas do the same thing a couple of years ago. What a nut job ... it's 100+ degrees here for months in a row.

Even though it looks well maintained, a lot of strangers would refuse even to knock on its front door because of the black walls...good job!

Spooky!

I love this. Very cool house inside and out. Although I can see the point about the aluminum garage door being a bit of a distraction (especially from the pedestrian point of view). Nonetheless, that garage door isn't hideous, and it kind of works with the windows above it. So, all in all, thumbs up on this one.

Love it!

In San Francisco, a black Victorian really stands out against all the 'Painted Ladies' and more traditional paint jobs.

If this photo included the surrounding buildings, this paint job would be considered conservative.

Plants! Huge zinc planters, filled with corresponding dark colors, but my god, all that concrete, blech. All I can see is major water runoff.

Love it. Hate the white concrete squares, and the garage door sucks mud.

I think it's interesting and unique (and it's just paint, easy enough to change when they're tired of it).

And please pardon the architectural buff, but that is really a Stick Style Victorian, not a Queen Anne.

LOL at the "heat up in the summer" comment. Our July temperatures averaged in the 50s. It's just now starting to warm up.

Anyway. This house is in my 'hood. I think it's a sophisticated iteration of black, nothing like the flat, silly charcoal of LaVey's last house (never saw the original). I welcome it as a tonic to the pastels typically found on Victorians in pricey neighborhoods. As bepsf noted, Painted Ladies are rare these days. I mostly see them in the Castro and parts of the Haight.

As for complaints about the concrete, what do you want them to do? Jackhammer the sidewalk?

I think it's totally awesome. I agree also that it would only work in certain neighborhoods/hip areas and with a certain crowd. If you're in a big traditional neighborhood it probably won't fly. A creative mecca? Go for it.

Personally I would likely add more touches of bright color like the door to make it clear that I'm not a witch doctor or something.

I think if it was dark grey with peeling paint maybe it would look an awful lot like the Addams house, but I think it's gorgeous in this colour. I recently painted half my house this colour. What an awesome colour to decorate with and won't it look fantastic at halloween where they COULD make it intentionally like the Addams house. :D

Looooove it!

There is no way one could ever convince me that all black is anywhere near as interesting or brave a choice as the commitment to going all white or all beige.

<Insert sarcastic eye roll here.>

While it's not for me personally, I can get behind it 100%. Crisp. Clean. I can see every detail from a new perspective. Alum garage door. It's kind of like a tuxedo for your house.

And, it's only paint.

Bravo.

Okay, let's rephrase that. The garage door provides a jarring (teethonedgestubbedtoe chronicheadache) suburban counterpoint to the soothing, sophisticated aesthetic of the black/dark charcoal house.

I like the blue door, but the all encompassing black is a little jarring. I think the concept of having the house black is a cool and modern, but I would have liked to have seen SOME kind of accent color on the house to properly show off the architectural details.

Love this house. It's very striking in-person. The entire neighborhood is gorgeous, which helps. It's not conventional, but still beautiful in its own Gothic way. I live in a Queen Anne revival, and we went with black trim on white (Tudor-esque). It's bland and boring, and thus non-offensive. I strive for this kind of courage.

Love it.... The blue/grey garage and garden door is balancing. Minimalist goth. I like.
Would have done a blood-red front door though. Needs a touch of evil intent...

Noe Valley is a fun, funky neighborhood. This fits right in. I love the bold color choice. But the garage door? Uh, not so much. The two tone thing is way too traditional for this place. Ugh.

P.S. The interior is ab fab. WOW.

Hahaha! I take it back! The garage door (I'm pretty sure) is glass!!!! I take it all back. Very cool.

Wow. Gorgeous and brave.

I like it, but wish it had a little more contrasting detailing.

An AWESOME way to take a fussier style and make it more modern!

LEAVE IT! I don't know that I would object to a black house in general, but in this case it kills me to see that they painted all that stunning trim black. This is a beautiful house. Bummer!

Absolutely fantastic! Wish I had the guts to paint my house that color. But I do have a blue front door.

There's so much detail in the house itself that the black doesn't seem so bad...though I don't know if I could do that. Maybe, if there were some potted plants or flowers, or potted shrubs, it would soften it a bit.

Wow! Just looked at the interior photos...really fearless in their choices. The black exterior sort of prepares you for what's in store inside. Interesting...thinking...I can see some exotic tropical plants outdoors, like a Staghorn fern, for example.

I love it! I'd toss in some colorful flowers and paint the door pink, but that's my solution to everything. It would also be fantastic to decorate for Halloween!

Didn't think I would like it but it doesn't look bad. Living in Tucson my first thought was the heat but sounds like that's not a problem.

Love it. But maybe that's because I live in a black house too. Mine is an early (1945) mid-century modern cottage that a second architect redid about 10 years ago. The "paint" is actually a black oil on the cedar siding, and the trim is dark green. I don't know how it would work in a city, but it is perfect on my heavily wooded lot.

I think it's great. Kind of reminds me of the artist Louis Nevelson. And do you know how hard it is to paint a painted lady? Either a couple of huge potted strubs, pruned topiary style, that are too heavy to steal or some increadible blooms. Something blue or orange, not red.

ick

i really like it. i'd like it even more with some topiaries or some sort of greenery

I don't like it for the style of house.

I like it. It's a great way to contemporize/modernize a historic/period house without doing any damage to it. They haven't removed any of the architectural detailing, when or if they decide to sell they'd just need to paint it a lighter color and change the garage door to depersonalize it.

I LOVE THIS! it's different, creative, and out of the ordinary...probably why it is attracting the negative comments.

:-)

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this already- but has anyone heard of the 5 black Victorian Houses in Olympia, WA? They actually have a strange and interesting history... worth checking out

Love it! I think I walked past it once in SF.. I love modern and old juxtapositions and this is a great example.

LOVE.

There was a black painted house near where we lived in Ithaca, NY. Sometimes I wasn't sure about it, but in winter, when everything else was white...

Bold move. Fabulous execution. Wouldn't change a thing!

Love this!

The color is not the issue, and I am a strong advocate of not following trend and creating your own style, but this type of juxtaposition, Victorian and modern? I just hope the homeowners intend to live there for a very long time.

We have a few brave souls over here in Fairfield County CT that have taken the super dark approach on some old Colonials, and more often than not to fabulous effect. If I hadn't just painted a few years ago, and didn't already have a sort of dark (mad scientist) aesthetic I would consider it myself, but too much black with too much antique curiosities goes a bit Aadams Family.

I hate it. Makes my brows furrow.

OK, knowing the garage door is glass instead of sea blue helps. That was bugging me.

The comments about the lack of landscaping and too much concrete made me smile. Sillies. There *is* extensive landscaping, for old SF! See the cactus? The rest is sidewalk, controlled by the city. Think like Manhattan. Pots on the stairs would be gone by next day.

Love it!

I think I would like the black if they also used some white on the trim. As it is it is too black.

So glad someone mentioned Anton LaVey! That's the first thing I thought of. Big fan of LeVay, so I looooove this.

Considering another house design (well, this one also) i'd definitely paint it black. But as with all daring color decisions, the paint job has to be impeccable.

That said... everything around the house in the picture looks like crap.

I LOVE it. I am a big fan of black, and would love to live in a black house. I think they pulled off non-goth, classy black. Like a little black dress...house.

Strikes me as less Addams Family and more Jonathan Adler. I like it. I affirm the comments of some of the others, less concrete more landscaping a more interesting color on the door might be good ... like a boysenberry, nothing too "poppy". And the surroundings do look a little mundane next to it. But.. you do what you can with what you have. And who knows what they are going to do next.

Kudos to them for having the stones to do it.

I like to think that the next paint job they will do a 180 to ultraviolet painted lady.

Love it... I think it would also be very nice if the interior of the porch area was painted bright white to contrast the overall darkness...
I would think that it would absorb a lot of heat in the summer.

Love it. It's bold and unexpected.

I am not averse to black per se, I just don't really like this black. I think a more blueish shade or a dark smokey gray would have been better.
The inside is impeccable though.

this is just plain awful. there is no precedent for this in thousands of years of architecture and design. there is such a thing as being too novel. it doesn't suit the home's architectural style at all.

Ooh!

Love it!

Perfect. And that the house has enough texture and architectural details means that the light and shadows will provide their own highlights.

I would switch out the door colour for something in a deep chartreuse, though. And if building codes allow for it, some big planters out front along the foundation would be nice, too.

all the beautiful architectural detail is lost in the solid mass of black. I don't mind the black, but I'd add some other colors as well.

makes me sad

I can see what they were aiming for, but imo they missed their mark - it needs some subtle detailing and I feel like the black is too warm. There's just something off. I do appreciate the modern accents, such as the cactus and the chrome, but I think they could have done better.

I love it! One of my favorite houses is a Victorian in Oakland's Shafter/Rockridge neighborhood that's painted a dark, dark gray.

The interior is a bit disappointing though. Far too modern for this house.

Stunning! Works very well on this architecture. I would however think about painting those architectural accents a slightly lighter colour, even a charcoal, just to give it a bit more depth and would suggest that for any house that is so mono-colour, even white, blue, or green.

I like the house but the garage door looks weird with it.

Love it!

<3 it!

I don't dislike it, I'm just not feeling it. I guess it could be because of the lack of contrast. Most houses, no matter how drab their exterior tend to have a couple different shades of drab. Maybe if the window frames or shutters were painted grayish blue or something I could warm up to it. But hey, to each his own.

And my not feeling it has nothing to do with the association of black=evil. I've seen plenty of stylish rooms painted black, but the furniture is not all black that I've drooled over. There is often some accents to liven up the space like gold, gray, white or red.

I live very close to this house. The paint is more of a blue-black and it is very cool.

Featured in NY Times article, you can see the interior here:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/04/23/garden/20090423-sanfran-slideshow_index.html

I like it. One time when I was about 11, I asked a boy why there arent any black houses, and he said to me, "I'll paint my house black so someday if you see it, you'll know it's me". it was cute lol

I love it. It's way foxy. Queen Victoria wore black. :-)

@meanmillz - Thanks for the link. What a great article!

love it. but coming from florida, i can only imagine the sky high electric bill!

Nice.

this is just screaming for potted plants. seems like a huge oversight! also, the blue doesn't really work imo, I like the idea of bold and contrast, but blue is almost boring. any number of yellows would be grand. and plants, please buy some plants!

Tim Burton-esque. Therefore, cool - I agree!

I kinda like it. I think it works for SF...wouldn't work in like Pleasanton, but definitely works for the city. Bright pops of color would be a good addition.

There's a house like that here in Halifax, with a pink front door!