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I believe the term "Painted Ladies" originated with the title of the 1978 book, "Painted Ladies: San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians", which I own a copy of. I do not know if the book can be used as a source or reference point of the article. If it can, the book's authors are Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen. Morley Baer is credited for the book's photographs. The book was published by E.P. Dutton of New York, and its Library of Congress catalogue number is ISBN: 0-525-48244-X.

The authors went on to write and publish a series of books on American residential Victorian architecture under the Painted Ladies theme. That term has been used in the titles of the books. The books are like the original, featuring photographs of Victorian houses painted in polychrome colors across the United States and Canada. Among the titles are "Daughters of Painted Ladies: America's Resplendent Victorians" (ISBN: 0-525-48337-3) and "The Painted Ladies Revisited: San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians Inside and Out" (ISBN: 0-525-48508-2).

I know this book series, if it did not coin the term "Painted Ladies", helped popularized the term.

I also suggest that the article be merged with the article on Victorian houses.

S Martin 23:09, 6 April 2007 (UTC) reply

According to various sources, this is true. Added it. – Unint 03:48, 2 October 2007 (UTC) reply

Please can someone find a better image for the SF "ladies"? In the current one they resemble less the "Painted Ladies" that they do the "Slightly Off-White Ladies". E Eng 15:45, 30 April 2018 (UTC) reply

Getty images has a great photo but I don't know the copyright issues around using it. Saw it at Google Images. Makermark ( talk) 16:38, 8 December 2022 (UTC) reply

Most (not all) Getty images are neither public domain nor under a license that permits use on Wikipedia. However, there's a bunch of usable photos on Commons; see COMMONS:Category:Category:Painted Ladies and COMMONS:Category:Painted Ladies from Alamo Square Park.

The reality is, though, that the houses are kind of pastel and look more colorful in person than as captured in a photo wide enough and from far enough away to capture many of them. The ones that show the color best are the ones that are up close anc capture only a few of them (e.g., File:Painted ladies (15) (8654120916).jpg). TJRC ( talk) 18:35, 8 December 2022 (UTC) reply