Bristol’s colourful historic terraces, and their 21st century reinterpretations

[@ElliotSoS]

After living in Bristol and Newfoundland, both of which have colourful rowhouses (known as jellybean row here in NL), I've been told by a few different people on both sides of the pond, that the reason for the colourful houses is because boat paint was cheaper and hardier for houses near the coasts & salt water. And I guess boat paint tended to be in brighter colors than regular ol' house paint. Apparently anyway!

[@tosspot1305]

This sounds very plausible actually

[@chrisrebar2381]

Actually, most of the houses you see were originally plain terracotta brick. Even in my youth most of these houses were very plain and certainly not as colourful as you see now - Basically, this is down to the recent developments of paint and the trend to render the frontages of houses - this is a very recent (1980s +) trend. Before that people just didn't have the money to have their houses, which were mostly brick, rendered and painted in vibrant colours .... Personally I love it, but it is a very recent thing

[@antonycharnock2993]

In the UK it seems to be a Welsh/South West thing. I've also seen it in Ireland/Scottish Islands i.e Tobermory. Most other seaside/coastal towns go with the whitewashed look. There's also a good example in Northern Spain, the fishing village of Cudillero in Asturias but even there most of the houses are whitewashed.

[@hiccacarryer3624]

Plymouth has very similar architecture to Bristol but we tend to have even paler pastel colours- the white originates with historic lime production and is seen right across the Westcountry with Cornwall tending to pure white. Cockington in Devon is famous for its pink which is a mix of lime with the local very red soil - even the sheep there are pink. So its partly geographical/ geological and partly socio- cultural- i know of streets in the poorer parts of Plymouth that have recently had coordination from planners over the last 20y to limit colour choice to 'tasteful' palettes.

[@andrewfoyle8526]

Great video, thanks... spot on sorting the wheat from the chaff with the urban myth/ history side of this. I also heard George Ferguson claim to be 'the first', though I doubt it for the same reasons. Also of course, brightly coloured masonry paint was barely available before the 1970s. There are one or two colour films of the SS Great Britain being towed into the harbour in July 1970 which show the Cliftonwood /Ambra Vale houses as resolutely grey render. I also live in one of the terraces featured....one of the modernist terraces in Bedminster, it's great to see your assessment. Thanks for a thorough and thoughtful video!

[@SupperHans]

I'm very excited to be featuring in this video walking up 9 tree hill. Thanks for the star turn for me and my orange backpack

[@PedestrianDiversions]

it was only a matter of time before someone spotted themselves! I think you're the first!

[@SevCaswell]

In the 80's the only terrace that was this colourful was indeed in Toterdown. It appears to have proliferated dramatically since the early 90's when I stopped being regularly chauffeured around the city by my parents.

[@colinbooth2421]

Good stuff, as usual. We recollect an upsurge of multi-coloured houses in Montpelier/upper St.Pauls around the 1970s, when West Indian incomers started putting their stamp on the area. I wonder whether this was something which they thought of as a culural norm? It's hard to imagine them being heavily infulenced by geourge Furguson!

[@PedestrianDiversions]

Thanks Colin, it's great to gather people's actual memories of this trend growing and spreading, my googling is one thing but can't compete with first hand testimony! Interesting that you connect it to the immigrant/demographic changes, I didn't come across that link when researching but it could well be another influence in the story. There are certainly numerous places in the Caribbean I could have used for the 'montage of colourful towns and cities worldwide' segment...

[@chrisrebar2381]

@@PedestrianDiversions Another thing to bear in mind is that the only exterior paint you could easily buy before the 70s was white paint (I guess thats why the traditional coloured overalls for painters and decorators was white). Look at some old photos of bristol houses particularly around totterdown and bedminster. Most were basic red brick houses (very depressing to look at) and it wasnt until the 70s when, all of a sudden, anyone could go and but cement and sand and vibrant coloured paint (although a very poor selection) from newly introduced building supplies stores such as "Great Mills" .... Before that, DIY never really existed (in the way it does today) and you could only really buy building/electrical/plumbing supplies if you had something called a "trade note"

[@user-bv7wb8nd6v]

Likely to have started from the more bohemian areas of Totterdown, Montpelier and Clifton (which was cheaper in the 1960s), combined with the fact that more colourful modern paints only became available in the 1960s.

[@nickbrown5457]

Great video, thanks! A further development of this is more and more houses painted with amazing artwork (NOT graffiti!), which I'm sure you'll be aware of. This is really starting to become a thing, particularly in Totterdown, and I think looks terrific.

[@gillscorner794]

Very interesting video thanks, I feel that the original trend was 'emergent' from the nature of the architecture the ownership - different owners painting different colours at different times and the topography, that accentuated this as time went on, it is testament to Bristol as a creative city that it now has many different architects playing with this as a theme and an Identity when so many towns and cities in the UK have little in the way of identity and ignorant carbon copy architecture abounds

[@petemitchell9111]

Really enjoying your videos - thanks. Perhaps you could persuade the residents of Royal York Terrace to join in the fun. When I lived there briefly in the seventies you wouldn't have had much luck! I grew up in and around Bristol and I'm glad to see that it doesn't seem to rain much there anymore... Do keep the videos coming! I grew up on The Ridge Estate in Yate and there the wonderfully benign landlords - the Cooperative Housing Society - would offer residents a palette of pastel colours to choose every few years. They also gave us a choice of trees to plant in and around the gardens.

[@PedestrianDiversions]

"glad to see that it doesn't seem to rain much there anymore" - ha! the weather certainly was glorious around the time I filmed this. not so much lately!

[@confory9620]

This is a great video, nice to learn about how Bristol has ended up looking like it is. I'm going to be moving into a newbuild street that's painted in this way soon.

[@tosspot1305]

Be sure to hire a professional snagger before you move in

[@polopolo4247]

Thanks again for a great video. Quite niche channel but living in Bristol and being interested about this sort of things, thanks :)

[@PedestrianDiversions]

If and when the world gets back to normal I will hopefully be able to travel and be a bit less Bristol-niche (!), but it's nice to see there is an appreciative audience for this stuff here in Bristol :)

[@chrisrebar2381]

Take a look at old (1900 ish) pictures of Totterdown and you will probably appreciate how very drab it looked back then - most of the houses were just plain brick. Imagine street after street of red brick houses

[@DraugaDae]

It's always a delight to find a new channel that gives some serious and informative commentary. Hope you continue to develop this passion project.

[@paullinnitt5450]

In Murano near Venice families would have a colour for their houses. A drunk sailor would at least get the right family if not the specific house.

[@Bring_MeSunshine]

First, I just wanted to see my adopted home town of 40 years, then I became fascinated by bridges, de-throning, and paint. Then I was pausing for thought, wheels turning. Now, I've watched 6 of your vids on the trot. Blimey

[@Jez.Von.Franco]

I like the Totterdown theory 👍😉

[@willdjazure]

Great video. Really interesting point about the flat Georgian design Vs the Victorian design with lots of decoration. The flat terraced design certainly does lend itself more to the idea of being painted and somewhat spruces it up.

[@MtScarFinger]

Another great video. Cliftonwood is my usual spot to chill on a nice day and it's lovely hear some history of those colourful houses. Also got to love Dean Lane Park

[@UK75roger]

Good video! Agree with all that - I've noticed those modern houses too.

[@ashleysmith1276]

I used to own the garden flat in one of the terraces of Richmond St, the ones overlooking Temple Meads. Loved it, amazing views. Sadly it was poorly sound insulated so I sold up cos of noisy neighbours in 2010. Wish I could have kept it.

[@MylesKellyBristol]

thanks so much for the vids, I have binged the whole lot and learnt a great deal. A thought on coloured houses, I first noticed these polifirate in Ireland ~80's. Irish towns used to be stark and grey and now they all look like postcards. The Irish are never hampered by taste (I'm allowed to say that!) but don't know if the mass trend (rather than a house or two) started there as it was noticable going between the two countries

[@SmashmanVideos]

Another excellently informative video! I saw my old flat in the Georgian section! Thanks

[@GothicLordUK]

@29:04 I got that far, it's a great video!

[@legerarts]

I've beaten you! I made it to 29:11. And you are right, it's a great video!

[@Deepthought-42]

29:12 🤣👍Nice trip round Bristol Thanks

[@schnauzpig]

As someone from the London Borough of Lewisham I think you are lucky you are only describing the rear of one of your buildings as 'not compelling' our entire town centre looks like that.

[@coff33guy34]

Really interesting and great narration style. Happy to subscribe!

[@vinawaldren6888]

Love it! Very interesting! 👍😁

[@adrianrutterford762]

An interesting video. Thank you

[@chrisrebar2381]

2:27 - Now there's a very natural cloud formation!

[@peter_smyth]

I've not noticed there being so many colourful terraces there are in Bristol, besides the obvious ones in Totterdown and overlooking the Harbour in Cliftonwood!

[@PedestrianDiversions]

Those are definitely the two most visually prominent, and reading around, I felt like probably they are the longest-established bastions of this - I think maybe it's spread more recently to places like Bedminster / Southville / Windmill Hill and Kingsdown / Montpelier (which is rather underpresented in this video, I struggled to find the right angles). But I didn't say so since I've no real evidence of this.... except come to think of it I actually did see one comment from a long-term resident saying Southville was grimy in the 80s and now it's become colourful, I think that might have been in a conservation area assessment, but anyway...

[@chrisnewman7281]

It’s a British paints conspiracy. bit by bit they’re gradually integrating their whole colour swatch into the Bristol landscape.

[@hereharehere]

Thanks

[@PedestrianDiversions]

very generous thank you!

[@notnotnotavailable]

I went to school in Bristol in the early 1960s and I have no memory of colourful terraces. Can't say for certain that there were no individual brightly painted houses.

[@chrisrebar2381]

That's absolutely correct. Back then paint and pigment technology was very basic, particularly with respect to exterior paints. Also, rendering houses was expensive.

[@susanlees9249]

Cliftonwood BACKS of houses were not painted till 80s. My house in Southville overlooks and I have photographs. The fronts were already painted. It caught on as people had scaffolding up to repair roofs is my guess.

[@clivepage7016]

My personal favourite Bristol painted building is the end house at the north of Battenburg Road at the intersection with Cromwell Road.

[@PedestrianDiversions]

looked it up on street view, haha that's a good one!

[@eibeinaka]

That made me laugh out loud.

[@MrJohnQCitizen]

I'd like to know why the roofs are often inverse. My father's attic is like this and it makes it harder to heat I reckon

[@PedestrianDiversions]

yeah that's an odd one. I have no idea.

[@growyourownfreedom2191]

maybe someone could find a discreet part of each house and then peel back the layers of paint and analyse their age? sureley they must all be underneath each other in order?! the truth is out there