A San Francisco Painted Lady, 1900.
My mother purchased the shell for this house from Dan Humphries. She painted the exterior and did the interior trim work herself. The furniture is a mix of purchased items and items she made herself.
The use of the term “Painted Lady” to refer to a Victorian house likely began with a 1978 book by Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen called Painted Ladies: San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians. (source: Wikipedia). Victorian houses were commonly painted in three or more colors.
This miniature apartment building contains three floors of apartments housing late Gilded Age immigrants to San Francisco, and the interiors reflect a bit of the individual families’ cultures. The apartments are luxurious, so the families likely made their fortunes in the San Francisco gold rush several decades earlier.
My mother is very old and having memory issues, but she still remembers her dollhouses. I am preserving her miniature collection, which used be on display in an art gallery, on my website for others to enjoy. She loves to hear how many views her houses receive from all over the world.