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Rang

Rainbow Row

Charleston

Thirteen Georgian merchants' houses in a row, each a different pastel, on the waterfront of a southern port.

Rainbow Row, Charleston
Photo: Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Charleston is pastel pink

Charleston, in South Carolina, was one of the richest ports of colonial North America, its wealth built on rice and on slavery. On East Bay Street stand thirteen joined houses from the 18th century, once merchants' shops with homes above. By the early 20th century the row was a slum. In 1931 Dorothy Porcher Legge bought a section and painted her houses pink in a Caribbean manner. Neighbours followed with other pastels, and the name Rainbow Row took hold. Stories that the colours helped drunken sailors find their lodgings are folklore. Around the region, porch ceilings are often painted pale blue-green, called haint blue, a tradition of the Gullah people said to keep spirits away.

Pastel pink#F2B5B5Pastel yellow#F5E6A1Pastel blue#A8CFE0Pastel green#B5D9B5Haint blue#A9D6D9

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

Colours tied to Charleston

Haint blueA pale blue-green paint used on porch ceilings in the Southern United States
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Rainbow Row" on Wikipedia. If you know Charleston and we have it wrong, tell us.

More colour cities

All colour cities
🇺🇸 Red Rock CountrySedonaA small Arizona city ringed by towers and cliffs of red sandstone, with rules that keep buildings muted.🇺🇸 The adobe citySanta FeNew Mexico's capital, where a city rule keeps buildings in earth-coloured adobe style with turquoise trim.🇺🇸 Art Deco pastelsMiami BeachHundreds of 1930s hotels in pink, mint, aqua and peach line the streets behind the beach, with neon at night.🇺🇸 Purple, green and goldNew OrleansA city of brightly painted cottages and iron balconies, dressed in purple, green and gold each carnival.🇺🇸 Painted Ladies and International OrangeSan FranciscoA red-orange bridge chosen to show through fog, and Victorian wooden houses painted in three or more colours.🇺🇸 City of yellow cabsNew YorkYellow taxis thread streets of brown stone, grey steel and glass; a green statue stands in the harbour.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly palette

Every Monday: seven colours you may not know, what the world is wearing this week, and one idea about colour.