The Victorian era witnessed a revolution in architectural color, driven in part by the development of ready-mixed paints in resealable cans by manufacturers such as the Acme White Lead Works in Detroit and national firms like the Sherwin-Williams Company . These manufacturers produced paint color cards with recommendations for flamboyant paint schemes meant to use as many of their colors as possible . The Hunnewell Cottage's eight-color scheme reflects this Victorian enthusiasm for color, with colors that were carefully selected to match the building's stone and tile elements . For homeowners in Wellesley seeking to understand the historical context of their homes' paint schemes, the role of paint manufacturers in shaping Victorian color palettes is an important consideration. Suetam Painting & Finishes delivers expert historic painting that honors the architectural legacy of Wellesley's distinguished homes.

For professional historic painting, Painters in Wellesley, MA deliver authentic, period-appropriate results for homeowners throughout this distinguished community.

The Ready-Mixed Paint Revolution

Before the 1860s, painters made paint on the spot from dry pigments, oil, and turpentine, making the production of highly colored paints a difficult and expensive undertaking . The advent of manufactured, pre-mixed paints distributed nationwide in cans made a wider range of colors more accessible . Paint manufacturers eager to sell their products began to produce paint color cards with recommendations for flamboyant paint schemes meant to use as many of their colors as possible . This revolution in paint manufacturing coincided with the rise of Victorian architecture and its elaborate polychromatic schemes.

The Acme White Lead Works and the Detroit Palette

The Acme White Lead Works in Detroit and other national firms with a strong market in the region, such as the Sherwin-Williams Company, developed ready-mixed paints in resealable cans in ever-richer and darker colors . Deep olives, browns, and greens in a wide variety of shades became readily available for the first time . The explosion of styles in the High and Late Victorian periods required a deeper palette of colors to unify the diverse elements of these designs and to highlight the variety of materials and textures used by architects and builders . The trim color for masonry buildings of this period should always be selected with the color of the brick or stone in mind, tending towards the earth tones: browns, yellows, greens, olives, and grays .

The Hunnewell Cottage Paint Colors

The Hunnewell Cottage's eight-color scheme reflects the Victorian enthusiasm for color. The clapboard and trim paint colors are very similar to the colors of the cast stone and brownstone, while the colors used to pick out the detail of the architectural trim are those found in the glazed tile . The eight colors—brown, dark red, dark olive green, sky blue, mustard yellow, olive green, dark red, and orange—demonstrate the rich, complex palettes that became available during the Victorian era. As re-created, the scheme reveals the important role that color played in the design of this cottage, particularly in the scheme's relationship to the masonry materials, whose colors it replicates, and to the architectural elements it highlights .

Late Victorian Color Schemes

Exuberant late-nineteenth-century exterior paint schemes, such as that found on the Hunnewell Cottage, often had relatively short lives . They were costly to maintain and repaint, and because these schemes arrived toward the end of the Victorian era, they fell out of favor within twenty to thirty years of their creation . In the case of the Hunnewell Cottage, the original eight-color scheme was never repainted. When the library was added to the south elevation in 1879, the cottage was painted with the ever-popular late Victorian scheme of red siding and dark green trim . During most of the twentieth century, the important role of color in the design of Victorian architecture was ignored. However, interest in Victorian architecture has been rekindled, and buildings are again being painted with the rich colors used in the second half of the nineteenth century .

The Sherwin-Williams Heritage Colors

The Sherwin-Williams Paint Company worked with Dr. Roger W. Moss and John Crosby Freeman in 1981 to create a color collection called the "Heritage Colors, 1820-1920" . It was made up of colors selected from significant architectural periods of American history: Neo-Classic, Early, High and Late – Victorian, Edwardian, and Colonial Revival . According to Freeman, the colors in the palette were selected primarily from the early paint catalogues of a number of paint companies from the respective time periods . This collection provides homeowners with access to historically accurate colors for their Victorian properties.

Conclusion

The development of ready-mixed paints by manufacturers like Sherwin-Williams and Acme White Lead Works revolutionized Victorian architecture, enabling the rich, polychromatic schemes that define the era. The Hunnewell Cottage's eight-color scheme reflects this Victorian enthusiasm for color. Suetam Painting & Finishes delivers authentic, period-appropriate results that honor the architectural legacy of Wellesley's historic homes.