BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL

QBRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL A&

A Q&A with two Elgin experts, Elizabeth Marston and Christen Sundquist, about the city’s Painted Ladies homes

By Hannah Hoffmeister | Photos provided by Christen Sundquist

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Architecture fanatics don’t need to travel to Postcard Row in San Francisco to see ornately painted homes — just drive to Elgin instead. The area is home to many Painted Ladies, or homes that highlight architectural features through unique coloring. Historically, Painted Ladies would have been painted with more muted colors: greens, tans, browns, etc., explains Christen Sundquist, historic preservation planner for Elgin. The style has expanded to brighter colors — turquoise, pink and more. After rescheduling around a snowstorm, Kane County Magazine got a walking and driving tour of the impressive homes in the area’s historic districts. The magazine spoke with Sundquist and Elizabeth Marston, museum director at Elgin History Museum, about these awe-inspiring homes, which tend to more closely resemble works of art than your traditional neighborhood dwelling. This interview has been edited slightly for length.  KANE COUNTY MAGAZINE: I first wanted to start with defining what Queen Anne style is and what Painted Ladies style is. CHRISTEN SUNDQUIST: Painted Ladies is from the 1970s — it was a coined term in San Francisco by two people who wrote a book about it. Queen Anne is part of the aesthetic movement at the turn of the century, like 1880s. They played with a lot of form. The Painted Ladies is just taking that aesthetic movement and adding its own expression and vibrancy to those buildings. Not necessarily historically colored or painted, but really nicely done.  KC: It seems like there’s a restoration movement in Elgin to keep these homes looking nice. CS: A lot of people saw the potential of these homes, and they wanted to save them. Designating it a historic district gives it its best chance of survival and preservation. We have five historic districts, our last one being in 2015. With that, you get some incentives … and that helps

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE:

Sundquist and Marston recommend these seven websites to discover more about the Painted Ladies homes and architectural history of Elgin: • Chicago Paint and Coatings Association’s

Painted Ladies contest: www.chicagopaint.org/ painted_ladies • Elgin History Museum, which has digitized objects, archival materials and photographs: www. elginhistory.org • Explore Elgin Area, particularly the architectural history blog posts: www.exploreelginarea.com • Gail Borden Public Library District and Illinois

Digital Archives, where you can see digitized versions of Henry Jensen's estimate books: www. idaillinois.org/digital/collection/newgailbord01/ id/10035/rec/1 • Gifford Park Association: www.gpaelgin.org • Historic Elgin, which lists more than 500 homes with Heritage Plaques with photos, history, walking tours and more: www.historicelgin.com • Historic Elgin House Tour: www.historicelginhousetour.com homeowners bring back historic features on the home that were once there and are no longer. Bit by bit, it sparks people to work on the exteriors of their house because they see their neighbor’s house is getting improved.  KC: What is something most people don’t know about the Painted Ladies homes in Elgin? CS: That they come in all sizes. It’s not just the huge Victorians that you think of in your head — it could be that smaller pink house that we pointed out, 429 Division St. ELIZABETH MARSTON: That the Painted Ladies movement has moved past Queen Anne into many different styles, even though that wasn’t the original intent. It’s not just the 1890s homes that have that painting style — bright colors highlighting architectural elements of their home — that’s kind of going into colonial revival, into bungalows too.  KC: What is something that you personally admire or notice when you look at these style of homes?

CS: More of the detail that pops out. Like Liz said, having these features painted when they might not have been historically, it’s just nice to have that detail pop out. But then you also have to make sure you’re walking. If you’re driving past, you might not see it, but if you’re on the ground walking, you’ll get to see a lot more of that detail.

EM: Like the Izzo House, the one on State Street. (Editor's note: This is at 214 E. State St., shown above.) It was magical — it’s almost like a creative painting. There are so many houses that have that in the Elgin area. It spruces up the streetscape; it makes people know that you care about your house.  KC: Is there anything you’d like to add? EM: We both would want you and all your readers to know Elgin’s a great place to live!

Visit Elgin History Museum — 360 Park St., Elgin — to learn more!