Polychrome - Definition and Overview

Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. Most often, the term is used in conjunction with certain styles of architecture during the Victorian era.

Polychrome building facades rose in popularity as a way of highlighting certain trim features in Queen Anne architecture in the United States. The rise of the modern paint industry following the civil war also helped to fuel the (sometimes extravagant) use of multiple colors.

The Polychrome facade style faded with the rise of the 20th century's "revival" movements, which stressed classical colors applied in restrained fashion. The polychrome movement reappeared in San Francisco, California in the 1970s, to describe and remains popular today on Victorian era houses. During the 1970s, multiple polychrome house in San Francisco earned the endearment painted ladies, a term that in 2004 is considered kitsch when it is applied to describe all Victorian houses that have been painted with various period colors.