Painted Ladies Victorian Walk
The Verdict
"Climb to the top of Alamo Square for the postcard shot, then wander north into Pacific Heights for the bigger mansions."
What you need to know
The famous row of Victorians on Steiner Street, also called Postcard Row or the Seven Sisters, along the eastern edge of Alamo Square.
They were built between 1892 and 1896 by Matthew Kavanaugh, who lived next door. The neighborhoods of Pacific Heights, the Haight, and Noe Valley have more Victorian and Edwardian architecture: roughly 48,000 of these houses were built in San Francisco between 1849 and 1915. The term “Painted Ladies” was coined in a 1978 book by Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen. Walk east along Hayes Street through Hayes Valley, or head north into Pacific Heights for the larger mansions.
