apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

One thing that I've heard and don't have details on is that at one time in towns in Mexico and other parts of the Third World, US companies cheaply sold paint colors that Americans hadn't been using or wouldn't use to get rid of them. San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas is a prime example. For those of you who've been there you know what vividly colored houses line their streets.

Fact or fiction? Anyone know more?

P.S. That link Color Obsession: Painted Houses is amazing.

I'm not sure why some cities are more colourful than others, but it's a good question. I had always assumed that it was a compensatory measure for not having a lot of sunlight through the year, but that doesn't really apply to the southern examples, does it? I grew up in Halifax NS, and its beautiful coloured houses always made things seem a little more cheerful during the long stretches of rain and fog that we would get. I was especially struck by this when I was visiting last Christmas.

Here are some examples from flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hools/225924412/in/set-72157594219440989/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benedict_w/211805545/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxkehrli/421671594/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbnthnkr/265226976/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walmink/316678288/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20018472@N00/468845906/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmaggie/207977727/

BB, you may be on to something. I've been to parts of Mexico and assorted Carribean islands, and the houses tend to be painted very loud colors. They look great though!

I live on a street in Washington DC that is lined on both sides by identical brick rowhouses, but each one is painted a different color. The colors aren't as bold as the ones in those pictures, but there are some bright pinks, purples, and greens. It certainly gives our block a lot of character! Unfortunately, I ended up with the boring white house and I can't repaint it because I'm renting.

In some caribbean countries, certain colors are supposed to ward off evil spirits.

In the Dominican Republic, back in the 1970s when I lived there as a child, I was told that the dictator Trujillo had owned the paint factories and made it law that people paint their houses. For that reason, some houses only painted the front and not the sides and back.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. In this case, I don't think there is some overarching Grand Unified Field Theorem of Brightly Colored Homes. Finding universal causes behind localized cultural phenomena is generally a fool's errand.

Rather, its more likely a phenomena that while reappearing in various locales and countries, has - absent a cultural or historical connection between the locals - its own particular specific set of historical, ethnic, cultural, religious and social factors. Hell, in some cases, like that Baltimore street, it could very well have started with one slightly eccentric guy who decided to paint his house purple and yellow and the next thing you know, his neighbor does the same thing, and so on and so on. In the case of the Italy, a lot of coastal areas surrounding the Mediterranean have a tradition of brightly colored homes - maybe its a Moorish influence, who knows.

I'm not sure about the bright colors, but I do know that in neighborhoods labeled "historic" residents are often required to stick to colors that were available when the house was built. My parents live on such a street in Philadelphia, and everything is fairly muted. (Every once in a while someone paints their home a bright color and then they receive anonymous hate mail-- I am not kidding. It's rather cruel.)

This would account for why homes in SF (Victorian Painted Ladies) would be brighter than mid-19th C row houses in NYC or colonial homes in Boston. Bright pigments just weren't available until the late 19th C.

I'd also wonder whether geographic differences -and who settled those areas- might play a role in color. Making a HUGE generalization, the NE was settled by the English and Germans (not known for their color) and the South (as well as parts of Canada and Maine) were settled by the French (better color sense). Of course, the South and Caribbean also has African influences, and Mexico is a wonderful mix of Spanish and native Indian influences, all of which might influence color choices, even 300 years later.

I love the colorful pastels that I find in Miami and Grand Cayman. To me, they seem to mimic the hues of a coral reef.

In Mexico, like Oaxaca for example, vivid color is an important part of their culture. Many of these colors come from the earth and are plentiful so they have been used forever.

San Francisco may be more colorful than NYC but it is also somewhat monochrome. There is a lot of stucco, creamy paint and red tile roofs. Many of the big Victorians can be bedazzled in bright colors and some of the restaurants may be colorful as well. I like to think that many of these colors reflect a certain subliminal connection to Provence or a breezy Italian village.

A lot of it also has to do with materials; the bulk of buildings in New York are brick, brownstone, limestone, etc., materials with a natural finish, whereas in San Francisco, most buildings are wood or stucco finish, which requires painting. If you go to neighborhoods with some victorian woodframes in brooklyn, you tend to get a bit more colorful, so fill a whole city with homes that demand detailed painting and you'll probably get a whole lot more color going on.

Of course, there are surely a good lot of cultural differences going on, as well as the fact that the majority of dwellings in New York are multi-family (and far more rental, though that is changing quickly) which means people are more likely to focus their energies on the interiors of their homes, rather than the exterior, which either does not belong to them or is shared by many, several of which will likely be opposed to any bold changes.

There is a video called dammi i colori by an Albanian artist about the effect on a whole city of a program of painting the old cement block housing in wild colors. It is a really interesting piece - see review & pictures of a showing in NYC below.

http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0443,levin,57835,13.html

Actually, the majority of homes in San Francisco are rental as well. The homeownership rate in NYC in 2000 was around 30%. In SF, it was around 35%.

I never tired of walking around looking at the amazing houses in SF. Although I can imagine how expensive it must be to maintain those elaborate paint jobs, it still broke my heart whenever I saw the details of a magnificent facade obscured by one color slapped over the entire house. There is something particularly drab about houses like that, where the very things that were meant to be highlighted are forced to blend poorly into the background, no matter how vibrant that background color may be.

The next time you find yourself walking down Prince Street take note of the Bubble Gum Pink painted PreWar located btwn W'Broadway and Thompson... Its on the North Side of the Street. As far as i Know the building has always been pink but when it got its freshest paint job they really kicked it up! The Building totally stands out on the streets and it makes me smile every time I walk by. Sorry for no pic (its better in person anyway)

Like art said, "In Mexico, like Oaxaca for example, vivid color is an important part of their culture. Many of these colors come from the earth and are plentiful so they have been used forever."

I used to live in Oaxaca and colors that come from the earth are very important, if not essential. Our house was white, but it wasn't painted. It was the color of the material of which it was composed. The paints and dyes that people used were "found" --like red comes from crushing a certain bug, etc.

My parents still live in Mexico, but they chose the color of their current house based on feelings and sentiments.

So, as far as regions go, I'm not sure. I'm sure someone at some point has done research on this. (Art history? Architecture class?)

http://www.flickr.com/groups/jellybeanrow/pool/

Check out the homes in the La Boca neighborhood in Buenos Aires. It is amazingly colorful...too bad you have to travel through the slums to get to it but it is definitely worth the visit!

You can google La Boca Buenos Aires for images.

I think peer pressure/conformity/desire to coordinate explains a lot of it. I live in DC in a row of unpainted brick row houses, and while I like the look of painted brick, I don't want to paint my house b/c we'd be the only painted one in the row, and it would look weird. (This is what our realtor told us when we bought the house and I mentioned the idea, anyway.) Also it may be against our historical neighborhood rules, I'm not sure. But if I lived on that street in Baltimore I would definitely paint bright colors, b/c it would make sense in that context.

engineergirl-

Will the landlord at least let you paint your front door a nice bright color? Or maybe put some really jazzed up windowboxes out there to give it color?

Bright house colors in San Francisco are the legacy of the Flower Power era. Back when those imposing old houses were being built, there were published complaints of how the whole city was painted battleship gray.

I grew up in Baltimore and lived in the Caribbean for five years and I think color is an important part of both places for different reasons. Baltimore prides itself on its historical rowhouses and its quirky personality. (John Waters, anyone?) I think the colored trim on those rowhouses is a way of standing out in a city full of identical looking residential buildings and people who aren't afraid of being unconventional to the point of pushing tacky. (And being a native, I mean that as a compliment.)

In the Caribbean, most homes are made of cinder blocks for hurricane safety. People incorporate bright colors from their environment - bright blue hues from the sea, reds, oranges and pinks from tropical flowers, and greens from palms and cacti to reflect their natural surroundings and cover the grey. Many islands also have long dry seasons when all the grass and bush turns brown and scrubby, and having bright splashes of colored homes on the hillsides really helps brighten things up.

One Caribbean island that's completely the opposite is Saba, where the entire island (all 5 square miles of it) is required to paint their houses white with red roofs and green shutters. Of course, all the houses have gingerbread trim and are charming looking. But I don't know how I'd feel having the same exact houses at everyone else on the ENTIRE island.

I heard that Victorian freestanding houses throughout the US were originally painted bright colors, and only later did Martha Stewart types start painting them "tasteful" drab colors.

Alas, Alan, that's a myth. Paint experts of the actual Victorian era complained bitterly about how "everyone" painted their houses white -- and recommended assorted schemes that today we'd see as deep earthtones and fairly drab. Some of these schemes were certainly adopted, but they were hardly bright colors by today's standards of brightness.

There was a return to white and pastels in the 1920s, followed by (in some areas) a "boutique" move to bright colors in the late 1960s/early 1970s. As the historic restoration movement took off in the 1980s, paint experts started promoting a move to authentic colors, returning to the earthier schemes of the Victorian period.

Check out Moss & Winkler's Victorian Exterior Decoration for the details.

In Imola, Italy (close to Bologna), the city hall tells you what color you may paint your house. The city hall will come around and paint 2-3 sample color stripes on your house, and you can pick one of those colors. That is how they maintain that beautiful coordinated look of the city.

Where was the 2nd photo taken? I live in Italy but I've never seen such colours... orange, reddish, cream... but lilac and lemon yellow??