The Historic District

mick_vt wrote:

Nicholas wrote: Although black would have been correct,

Black was by far the most common, but not only color used on fencing. I'm not sure this color scheme is not "historically correct"

Yea, poor choice of words, meant to say "may have", but I was bouncing off the concern of lovesickest about the original color. It really looks great as is.

Somehow black evolved as the "correct" fence color - but I think this may be more of an urban, easterner (ie US and Canada) thing ? I looked at lots of photos of iron fences from anywhere Google image would pull them up and while black seems to be sort of standard now, many fences including very fancy fences in the UK were recently painted colors. Some ironwork from the southern US (ie Miami) was painted bright pastels to match the house or building.

Ethnicity and geography may have something to do with fence colour traditions, too ? I noticed several Toronto fences (50 y/o or less) that belong to 1st generation Italian or Portuguese immigrants (people now in their 70's, 80's) and their fences were often painted white or sometimes a color plus white. My ex said that there were many fences in Montreal that were painted colors other than black.

My choice was based on matching the house colors, as well as a color that emphasized the fence details. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. In my home town in a small farming community, a black fence of any kind would have been viewed as an aesthetic abomination and potentially a personal affront to...someone.

This pic helped me make up my mind. I think it is from New Orleans if Google Image was telling the truth:

In Europe you can find all sorts of fence colours, although grey, black and various shades of green (anything from pastel to moss) tend to be most common. Blue and blue-green isn't that rare either. We had ours painted red in the early 90s and my granny's has been electric blue for as long as I can remember. Wooden fences are often white, sometimes dark green.

Iron fences are my dream. The yellow to match your door is perfect. You want the stares, but in a good way.

I am looking through the inter webs for fence pictures, also. Ours has to be wooden, tall, and solid to block the view of our neighbor's property and all the weeds. The wind took our last fence.