San Francisco is noted for its Victorian houses painted in ornate styles and colors.
There are roughly 40,000 Victorian houses in the city most were built before the earthquake of 1906. They were originally painted in bright pastel colors.
Beginning at the turn of the 20th century conformity was the prevailing national style. Unusual behavior was limited to membership in the largest voluntary organization, the Odd Fellows. So the Victorian color fest ended.
For more than a half-century all San Franciso Victorians were painted white or gray.
In the late 1960's one person, on psychedelic drugs, painted his house on the outside to resemble the psychedelic interior decor, common to hippy 'pads'. The tenant in this house was Jefferson F. Poland, well-known as a founder of the Sexual Freedom League. The photo on the right is the first house painted with modern Victorian polychrome style. The first modern Victorian paint job was done on the house on the left, 906 Steiner St. It has since been returned to a rather boring standard look since Jeff left. The next door neighbor has the more vibrant current Victorian style.
Don't bother looking this up in Wikipedia, they have it wrong. I knew Jeff Poland and I worked with many of the first people who got into the Victorian polychrome house painting business in the Briarpatch. They became very skilled and very much in demand.
This is just an historical note to set the record straight.