Thursday, May 13, 2010

Pink!

Today I'm going to talk about the color pink and it's place in Tucson and probably the rest of the Southwest.

To many people the color pink is a perfectly acceptable color to paint a little girl's room. They will dress their little girls in it and it will be many of those little girls' favorite color for a long time. I know it was mine when I was little.

For those of us who grew up in a place other than the Southwestern US pink is NOT a color for buildings. No indeed, it is rare to see buildings of a light shade of pink and that building is an oddity. Here in Tucson and probably most of the Southwest pink is a perfectly acceptable color for a building. In fact, It's down right normal.

The following are a few photos I found on the Internet of some lovely pink buildings that are absolute landmarks here in Tucson.


The courthouse


The Benedictine sanctuary


Another view of the sanctuary


The multicolored building complex downtown (this color pink is actually not the norm)


And I would like to end with a picture I took of a pink flower on a plant that is found all over place here.

12 comments:

Arlee Bird said...

I think pink houses did have a period of popularity around the late 50's or 60's. Isn't that where the the John Mellancamp song "Little Pink Houses" came from. Pink is not so popular for houses now.

Nice photos.

Lee
May 17th FIFTEEN FANTASY ISLAND FAVORITES

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

I think the photo's look good, whether pink or not. I have seen pink buildings in Spain and they looked great.
Thanks for sharing, most enjoyable.

Take care.
Yvonne
PS: thanks for the visit and lovely comment.

Stephen T. McCarthy said...

Howdy, MARJORIE ~
Yeah, living here in Phoenix, pink buildings don't raise an eyebrow. They don't bother me in the least. In fact, pink is one of my very favorite colors. Don't like red, but love pink. Heck, I even have a copy of The Holy Bible with a pink cover. Cool pink!

~ "Lonesome Dogg" McD-Fens

Shelley Sly said...

You're right -- pink isn't really an expected color for buildings, or at least I don't think so, since I'm from the East Coast. But these pictures are fun! Thanks for sharing!

Lisa said...

Pink is my favorite color and I especially like the dark pink bldg!

Nice picture of the pink flower, too!

Natasha said...

Jaipur, a city in India, is called the pink city because many of the buildings are pink. Not only is the architecture of those buildings similar to that of your courthouse, Jaipur is also in the desert.
Maybe there is something about pink and desert cities?

Marjorie said...

@ Lee- Nope not in most of the US.

@ Yvonne- I guess it could also have a lot to do with hispanic culture.

@ Stephen- that's quite strange for a man to admit he likes pink but not red. Pink is a good color, but green is always going to be my favorite.

@ Shelly- I think one of the things my aunt was surprised about when she came to visit was the difference here in the architecture. She was surprised at the pink buildings too.

@ Lisa- That complex is a trip isn't it? I think they are offices not apartments. It's definately a lot of fun.

@ Natasha- India is so alive with color. One day I'm visiting. Even if it takes me 20 years or more I'm visiting.

Amber T. Smith said...

The only buildings I have seen in the UK that aren't the standard brick and stone are the houses near beach fronts. Tenby, Porthcawl, Barry (all in Wales) have multicoloured buildings, and they really add to the holiday atmosphere.

Lovely pictures!

Hart Johnson said...

The tallest building in Portland is actually pink--it is the US Bank Tower (or was when built) and is a lovely granite/marble something or other--GORGEOUS in the skyline, but I LOVE the pink stucco--feels very Mexican to me, which as architecture, I really love.

Marjorie said...

@ Tara- Well most buildings are stucco here. It's just that stucco can be pink if you want it to be. I thik the reason I like the pink so much here is that mostly it's brown. Those little bursts of color really do something for this desert.

@ Tami- I'll have to look it up and see. I like Mexican architecture too. How about that Benedictine sanctuary? That is probably my favorite building within the city. Though the mission is actually really beautiful. It's white though.

Unknown said...

I would never think to write about this, great idea. I like mexican architecture. I am not a huge pink fan not even for buildings.

Denise Covey said...

I stumbled on your blog this morning and did a 'happy dance' when I saw your entry on Pink. My favourite colour, I wear it all the time toned down with grey and white. I love faded pink stucco buildings like you see in Italy, yum. Only pink building in my hometown (Brisbane) is a great Shabby Chic shop/home on the Northern Beaches. Aussies would class pink as a 'sissy' colour, lol...:)