Quote:
Originally Posted by bless-u
St. John's is not my city, but I am interested to find out when, why and who started painting the houses in such vibrant colours. It seems to be quite prevalent in SJ and almost unique in the whole Canada. Anyone knows?
 March 7, 2015 by Rabbittownie, on Flickr |
Oh, honey... I know.
If you come here as a tourist, they will tell you one of two reasons. The first is that our boats were always painted vibrant colours to be visible at sea in all kinds of weather, and fishermen simply used the leftover paint on their homes. That's completely inaccurate as fishermen couldn't afford to live
in the city. The other is that it's a cheerful way to brighten grey, foggy days - which may be partially true, but in the telling it's implied that it's always been this way.
In reality, almost all of rural Newfoundland was white, and almost all of St. John's - though colourful - was dark (burgundy, forest green, navy blue, etc.). The bright colours started with a beautification project about 50 years ago, and just gradually spread. People really enjoy it - it gives you that little bit of extra joy and inspiration every day, especially in winter. If you've ever had an apartment that was shabby and in a run-down neighbourhood, and the landlord let you repaint and decorate, and you went a little crazy, a little more artistic than you ever would in a suburban house you owned outright - because why not? It doesn't matter! - then you get it. Except here, the whole core of the city is that.
A couple pictures via Facebook from the 1970s to show how it used to be. Even that recently, it was still
mostly dark:
