Jellybean Houses

One of the unique aspects of streetscapes in St. John's, Newfoundland is the brightly coloured houses a.k.a. "jellybean" row houses.  There are numerous theories of how this started.  Some say that the fishermen couldn't see their houses in the fog when returning from sea so they painted them in bright colours.  Others say that paint was an expensive commodity but they needed paint for their boats so they used leftover on their houses.  And others explain that men would stagger home after an evening at the pub and would wander into the wrong house - so colour became an important way for them to find the way to the right house.  Whatever the explanation it is an absolutely beautiful feature of St. John's!