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One Of San Francisco's Painted Ladies Goes Solar

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- One of the Painted Ladies on San Francisco's Alamo Square has embraced solar power.

Most of Alamo Square Park is closed for a months-long renovation that ends this weekend, but the closure hasn't stopped tourists from coming.

They've come to see the seven Victorian mansions known as the Painted Ladies.

Emily Kooistra, a tourist from Toronto, Canada said, "We are looking for the Full House house and we wanted to see the park that they hung out in…"

The show Full House has gained cult status over the years and the final shot in its opening sequence, with the Painted Ladies in the background, made this place a tourist destination.

And even though the show has been off the air for more than 20 years, it remains an image frozen in time for most visitors.

But if you look closely there has been a change to the Painted Ladies.

Solar panels have been added to the roof of the first-and oldest-house on the block.

Come Lague, the owner of the historic house said, "This was a challenge, in the sense that we had to get it through SF planning and historical...the whole of Alamo Square is a historical district."

Lague says it helped that the city is so "pro-solar" and that most of the 16 panels aren't visible from the park.

Andrew Allen, the operations manager of Bay Area SunRun said, "We got a phone call saying we want to install solar on a historical landmark in San Francisco…"

SunRun got the job and says the narrow staircases and pitch of the roof made for a tricky installation as workers suspended from harnesses like mountain climbers.

Now finished, the 122-year-old mansion can get 80 percent of its electricity from the sun, meaning this summer it will stay as cool…as Uncle Jesse.

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