I received a letter from a reader named Julia the other day and she had a question for me:
“My favorite movie is Sweet November and the girl in the movie lives in a beautiful home, and i would like to know what the precise style of the house is called – because it would be my dream house.”
So I watched the movie and did some research and here is the answer to Julia’s question
The exterior of Sara’s building is at 298 Missouri Street at the corner of 18th Street on Potrero Hill, San Francisco. But like in so many movies her apartment was completely built from scratch in a studio. That skyline out the window is faked, created with a translight, basically an enormous panoramic photograph that was taken out the windows of the real location. Sara’s garden was filmed in back of Blooms Saloon in San Fran.
The apartment is decorated in typically late 90′ american romantic style. The walls are painted in soft colors such as yellow, rose and purple and the curtains are layered lace which provides that soft light. The furniture is quite heavy and in tones of deep red and brown. The apartment is filled with things from all over which adds a lot of coziness and warmth.
San Francisco is known for eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture for instance you can see an Italianate cornice on an Eastlake façade. Architectural styles in San Fran have always reflected the fashions of the current historical period, for example, Queen Victoria lived from 1837 to 1901, and anything built during her reign is considered Victorian, even though styles emerged and were adapted and reshaped for American tastes. The American Queen Anne period began at the end of the 19th century, and is characterized by spoolwork, shaped shingles, irregular – gabled – hipped and conical roofs, surface textures, entrance design with porches, and a mixture of various ornamentation.
Sources:
http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/SweetNovember/
http://www.ianberke.com/architecture-photo.html
http://www.sharonkramlich.com/sfinfo/architecture/
http://en.wikipedia.org/
