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Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

secretbristol.com

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Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#71

Post by shellac »

AM1010101 wrote: post #34

I live in one of the colourful houses in Clifton wood. We have a local WhatsApp group and one of the residents posted this a few months back: “A couple of people claim they were the first to paint Cliftonwood houses a bright colour in the 70’s, one being our ex-mayor George Ferguson. But the wonderful late Joan from Cliftonwood Cres told me that was ‘codswallop’. Also when we moved in here fifteen years ago, we were…

> the more posh types in Clifton on top of the hill

In the 70s Clifton wasn't really posh either. Like many cities at the time the affluent had moved out to the suburbs (e.g. across the Downs or Gorge). Difficult to believe now, of course.

Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#72

Post by _xivi »

looping8 wrote: post #62
hansjorg wrote: post #8

In Greenland they had a system to encode what purpose a building had. For example, if you were in a medical emergency, you would look for a yellow building. > Red buildings signified churches, schools, teachers’ or ministers’ houses. Yellow colours were assigned to hospitals, doctors, and health care personnel. Green was at first the symbol for radio communication and later became the colour of telecommunications. Th…

Is there a reason why they used those specific colors? I don't understand why a hospital would be yellow or a police station would be black by default. My guess would be white and blue, respectively.

> I don't understand why a hospital would be yellow or a police station would be black by default. My guess would be white and blue, respectively.

Snow. At least that'd be my first guess for not going with white.

In general, you want to use distinctive characteristics that aren't common in that environment.

Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#73

Post by danpalmer »

looping8 wrote: post #62
hansjorg wrote: post #8

In Greenland they had a system to encode what purpose a building had. For example, if you were in a medical emergency, you would look for a yellow building. > Red buildings signified churches, schools, teachers’ or ministers’ houses. Yellow colours were assigned to hospitals, doctors, and health care personnel. Green was at first the symbol for radio communication and later became the colour of telecommunications. Th…

Is there a reason why they used those specific colors? I don't understand why a hospital would be yellow or a police station would be black by default. My guess would be white and blue, respectively.

Despite it's name I suspect there was in fact a lot of snow that would make a white building too inconspicuous.

Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#74

Post by otteromkram »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #41
otteromkram wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one said it was a crime.

If the parent commenter is British then the use of “it’s not a crime” is an idiom and usually not to be taken literally. Basically a short hand for “not a big deal, shouldn’t have a ramifications for them”.

How am I supposed to know the parent commenter's nationality?

The parent comment also opined on a scenario in which the person's actions (paint, then ask permission) landed them an official letter and threat of fine, which seems like "a big deal" to some people.

Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#75

Post by kevthecoder »

jl6 wrote: post #48

This is the second Bristol post I’ve seen on HN in as many days. And quite right too! It’s a fab little city that I always enjoy visiting. It’s big enough to have lots going on, without being oppressively Big like London or Birmingham. For more Bristol, I highly recommend the BBC comedy-drama series The Outlaws.

As an aside, they were filming the latest series of The Outlaws at the same time as the annual St Werburghs City Farm Fair was due to run. The income from the fair is one of the biggest sources of income for the City Farm charity, so Outlaws paid the Farm the same amount they normally got from the Fair. Probably a good deal for the Farm as it takes a huge amount of effort to run the fair (but they also staged a delayed fair a few weeks ago too!).

Honourable mention to Windmill Hill City Farm on the other side of town too.

Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#76

Post by buster3000 »

AM1010101 wrote: post #34

I live in one of the colourful houses in Clifton wood. We have a local WhatsApp group and one of the residents posted this a few months back: “A couple of people claim they were the first to paint Cliftonwood houses a bright colour in the 70’s, one being our ex-mayor George Ferguson. But the wonderful late Joan from Cliftonwood Cres told me that was ‘codswallop’. Also when we moved in here fifteen years ago, we were…

> A couple of people claim they were the first to paint Cliftonwood houses a bright colour in the 70’s, one being our ex-mayor George Ferguson

Classic behaviour by old red-trousers.

Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#77

Post by II2II »

rcarr wrote: post #10

I really wish they'd do this everywhere. In the town I live in there are a lot of houses and shops that are just exceptionally grim to look at. Everything is dilapidated, rotting, grey and pebbledashed. I can't help but think that, even if it's not fixing the root causes of why everything is shit, it would at least make things a bit less miserable and maybe give people a bit of joy and pride again for a pretty low co…

Well, you can have dilapidated and colourful.

I was going to come here to say, why aren't more places more colourful. In this day in age though, it is obvious: everything is manufactured and manufactured finishes typically offer limited options for colour. It's not like we live in the days of wood, or even steel, that had to be regularly repainted to protect it from the elements.

Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#78

Post by jpsouth »

pezezin wrote: post #57
rcarr wrote: post #10

I really wish they'd do this everywhere. In the town I live in there are a lot of houses and shops that are just exceptionally grim to look at. Everything is dilapidated, rotting, grey and pebbledashed. I can't help but think that, even if it's not fixing the root causes of why everything is shit, it would at least make things a bit less miserable and maybe give people a bit of joy and pride again for a pretty low co…

I live in Japan and over here pretty much every small city and town is like you describe. But the saddest thing is that even brand new houses are incredibly ugly. Like seriously, who in their sane mind paints a house in black? As you say, a bit of color would not fix the underlying problems, but it would make life a bit more enjoyable.

A house near me has just had full black cladding put on their house, but opted to keep their white PVC windows and door.

It’s on a 100 year old estate with cherry blossoms in every garden, and completely detracts from the area.

Re: Why are there so many colourful houses in Bristol?

#79

Post by hsbauauvhabzb »

pezezin wrote: post #57
rcarr wrote: post #10

I really wish they'd do this everywhere. In the town I live in there are a lot of houses and shops that are just exceptionally grim to look at. Everything is dilapidated, rotting, grey and pebbledashed. I can't help but think that, even if it's not fixing the root causes of why everything is shit, it would at least make things a bit less miserable and maybe give people a bit of joy and pride again for a pretty low co…

I live in Japan and over here pretty much every small city and town is like you describe. But the saddest thing is that even brand new houses are incredibly ugly. Like seriously, who in their sane mind paints a house in black? As you say, a bit of color would not fix the underlying problems, but it would make life a bit more enjoyable.

I believe in Sydney Australia a dark roofs are not legal due to the environmental factors of increased air conditioning https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/09/plan-...
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