Dream Life for This House: An eclectic yet wildly successful artist in San Francisco, and I'll have a wardrobe full of funky vintage clothes and Pucci boots.

No, it's not a traditional castle, but this lovely Victorian is as elaborate as any 5-year-old princess's birthday cake.

1. Let's start in San Francisco, a city I enjoyed calling home for several years. This shockingly stunning Victorian in Pacific Heights is the epitome of San Francisco architecture at its best.

And what would the 19th century be without the Italianate, Second Empire, Moorish and all of the other foreign inspired movements? By first looking outward, it seems to me that as America was rapidly growing it was searching for an architectural identity that fit.

Second EmpireThis style developed as American cities began to expand in both style and size. The Second Empire reflected a new kind of urban architecture, inspired in great part by the apartment buildings in Paris and other western European cities. Often, these were highly ornamented buildings with a tall and flat facade, topped with a mansard-style curved roof. Long dormer windows often sat at the top of the building, and bay windows were common as well. These homes usually had a rectangular floor plan with a central hall and double entry doors. Gothic RevivalThese early Victorian homes reinvented the classic structures of medieval churches and castles in a more approachable way. They often have the stereotypical Victorian characteristics: multiple colors, textured walls, steeply pitched roofs and elaborate vergeboard (also called gingerbread) below the gables. Board-and-batten siding was a popular feature, but it was usually used vertically rather than in the more traditional horizontal style.

A mansard roof is the perfect choice when taxes are levied by the number of floors but the attic doesn't count. When the 19th-century French government levied taxes based on floor count, Parisians took to the mansard en masse. The result is street after street of mansard-roofed buildings. Amazing that much of present-day Paris' signature urban landscape is the direct result of avoiding tax payments!

DPC Pacific Heights Residence

Architecture

House colors

Nice.

exterior paint shades softest pale green//greige with off white and whale blue (stairs and roof)

Exterior paint

Trim colors

Green colors

second empire

Architecture

windowtrim

victorian

Color combination

i like the color of the house

Render

Painted the front steps

colors we are looking to paint outside of our home.

color

Paint colors

architecture

Character and elegance

k

idee culoare casa

Exterior

LOVE

color

Victorian

Add trim around the windows, colors

color combo

Good contrasts. Simplifies.

colors

paint color

Pretty SF Victorian

color

Exterior

For office

mint color

Colors

Black framed windows! But of course it has tons of molding/framing in white.

This color

colors for our inside

It's beautiful!

perhaps lighten with this combo? think i'd prefer a lighter shade of cream.

Like the house color!

paint colors

great subtle vic coloring

Mansard Roof. French.

green/white trim/ black windows

Love!!

windows

exterior paint

Blue roof gray house

Nice House!!

Victorian

paint color

Like Black trim around windows

Elegant colouring

it reminds me of a cross between san francisco and a brownstone

v

Palacio de Maria, minha filha!!!!

Victorian

outside color idea

Mansard roof

exterior paint colours

Colors

love

mansard style roof; mouldings

Beautiful!

Window trim

color scheme, shingle treatment on roof

What a cake. Amazing detail.

Colors. Click "ask" and it gives the paint colors

green

Paint colors

gothic

Exterior

Exterior

Beautiful!

someday in manhattan

Great roof design

I love this house

ex color

exterior sample of green

Second Empire painted lady-love this architecture

Edwardian

Church

color

Nice

Victorian mansard

colors

colors

my favorite

the colro combination

Exterior color

Love color palette

This window trim would be good on our house?

colors

colors

Victorian

Me, me, me. One day I will life in a house like this. or mabe I aready did in another life time

Victorian

I love victorian homes

Second Empire Victorian style

outside architecture is ideal

color and trim

Second Empire Victorian home design

city victorian (second empire)

Victorian!

Color and roof color

victorian

victorian

color

Color

Like the color scheme

paint color

color

roofing structure on hexagonal corner

Mansard

Victorian

Pretty

Second Empire This style developed as American cities began to expand in both style and size. The Second Empire reflected a new kind of urban architecture, inspired in great part by the apartment buildings in Paris and other western European cities. Often, these were highly ornamented buildings with a tall and flat facade, topped with a mansard-style curved roof. Long dormer windows often sat at the top of the building, and bay windows were common as well. These homes usually had a rectangular floor plan with a central hall and double entry doors. Gothic Revival These early Victorian homes reinvented the classic structures of medieval churches and castles in a more approachable way. They often have the stereotypical Victorian characteristics: multiple colors, textured walls, steeply pitched roofs and elaborate vergeboard (also called gingerbread) below the gables. Board-and-batten siding was a popular feature, but it was usually used vertically rather than in the more traditional horizontal style.

Beautiful

Love all the details.

Like colors

cornices over windows and windows

Exterior green

Exterior

exterior color

Exterior Color Palatte

I love this house

stunning color treatment

note ext. color

WOW

good example of american cladding

This is what I amlooking for.

Whole thing!

Windows

دليل الغناء

exterior windows

Tall shapely figure.

gray blue house

The colors

Color of house

Fachada

Second Empire

Victorian

blue steps black railings

Exterior

adorable

Window details add character

brad and kate

Victorian paint job note the black

Beautiful city home

Cool... I love it!!

Row house.?

colors

Victorian

color combo

Love!

Exterior color for a Victorian

.

Colors/window casing

Love the Colour

San Francisco

mansion

house colors

nice house color

exterior paint

I love this exterior color combo

Wow

Victorian detailing

look at this house color combo with blue roof and stairs

This stunning Victorian in Pacific Heights is San Francisco architecture at its best....

Stairs and roof

Windows

simple rod iron gate

colors

Like

ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS - A mansard roof is the perfect choice when taxes are levied by the number of floors but the attic doesn't count. When the 19th-century French government levied taxes based on floor count, Parisians took to the mansard en masse. The result is street after street of mansard-roofed buildings. Amazing that much of present-day Paris' signature urban landscape is the direct result of avoiding tax payments!

House colour

Love it

Mansard roof is lovely

Gorgeous

colors

Keeping true to its heritage.

The French avoided being taxed for a third level, with this mansard-roofed style. Love it!

Cool house

reminds me of full house...

Straight up beautiful

house color

Victoria

Mansard shingles