THE PAINTED LADIES
SAN FRANCISCO, USA
IMAGE NUMBER 651
One of the most photographed locations in San Francisco, Alamo Square's famous "postcard row" at Hayes and Steiner Streets is a tight, escalating formation of Victorian houses back-dropped by downtown skyscrapers.
The specific architectural details that set the Queen Anne-style Painted Ladies apart from other houses include overhanging eaves and detailed brackets, a round, dominant corner tower, gingerbread-style gables, a small porch covering the primary entrance area, differing wall textures, including patterned wood shingles shaped into varying designs, painted classical columns, spindles and balustrades, cutaway bay windows, and intricate stain-glass paneling. The Painted Ladies are just seven of 48,000 houses built in the Victorian and Edwardian styles between 1849 and 1915. The switch to building Edwardian houses over Victorians occurred with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.
TECHNICAL NOTES
The image was taken with a tripod-mounted Phase One 645 Camera at ISO 35. Exposure of 1/28th of a second and an aperture of f22. 45 mm Phase One wide angle lens with focal plane shutter. The image was captured on a Phase One IQ180 80 megapixel digital back. The image has been cropped and straightened using Capture One.