Rainbow Row: Tourism, Color, and the Making of a Civic Icon, 1930s – 1960s

Author

• Samantha E. Threlkeld, Clemson UniversityFollow

Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Historic Preservation

Committee Chair/Advisor

Dr. Laurel Bartlett

Committee Member

Dr. Carter L. Hudgins

Committee Member

Frances Ford

Committee Member

Katherine Pemberton

Abstract

This thesis investigates the emergence of Rainbow Row in Charleston, South Carolina, as a civic and tourism icon through an integrated analysis of visual culture, preservation governance, and material evidence. While Rainbow Row has become one of the most recognizable images of Charleston’s historic district, the chronology and cultural mechanisms through which its colorful façades were produced, interpreted, and disseminated have remained largely unstudied. This study addresses the primary research question: How Rainbow Row’s painted façades were leveraged in marketing and tourism narratives between the 1930s and the 1960s, and what those representations reveal about the construction of Charleston’s civic image. It also uses architectural paint analysis to examine the sequence and timing of exterior color applications along the Row and the extent to which these phases correspond with archival documentation and shifts in preservation practice as a secondary research question.

The research employs a mixed-methods design focused on systematic content analysis and archival investigation, supported by architectural paint analysis. Advertisements and popular publications, including National Geographic, House Beautiful, and related periodicals, were reviewed at intervals from 1930 through 1960 to identify references to Charleston and visual depictions of Rainbow Row. Local newspapers, tourism brochures, postcards, photographic collections, preservation organization files, and city records from the Charleston Board of Architectural Review were also examined to reconstruct patterns of representation and regulatory engagement. All visually relevant items were cataloged and thematically coded using qualitative data analysis software to identify recurring narratives, visuals, and shifts in emphasis over the study period. To substantiate and refine the archival timeline, limited exterior paint sampling was conducted on selected buildings, and stratigraphic evidence was analyzed to establish relative painting campaigns and correlate them with documentary and photographic sources.

The findings demonstrate that Rainbow Row’s emergence as a recognizable and named place preceded its formal promotion through national media and was rooted in localized recognition and informal circulation. The earliest identified public use of the term “Rainbow Row” occurs in a Charleston newspaper in 1938, coinciding with the exhibition of a painting titled Rainbow Row by a visiting New York artist. In 1939, National Geographic published a color photograph and accompanying text that introduced Rainbow Row to a national audience. Thereafter, the row appeared with increasing regularity in tourism-oriented publications and visual media.

Material and visual evidence show that by the late 1930s, multiple buildings along East Bay Street had already undergone successive repainting campaigns, producing a visually unified streetscape that could be readily identified. The study therefore establishes that Rainbow Row was not the result of a single restoration initiative or marketing strategy but emerged through incremental private restoration decisions, shaped within an evolving regulatory environment, and subsequently amplified by national and local media.

This research demonstrates that color functioned as both a material intervention and a communicative device within Charleston’s preservation landscape of the early twentieth century. The analysis reveals how regulatory oversight, while not always prescriptive regarding exterior color, provided a structure that enabled and stabilized aesthetic change. At the same time, tourism media transformed these material conditions into a marketable civic image. By integrating content analysis with architectural paint investigation, this thesis advances an interdisciplinary approach to the study of historic streetscapes, illustrating how visual culture and material studies work together to create an understanding. Rainbow Row serves as a case study for understanding how color can operate as an active agent in the construction of place identity and the commodification of historic urban environments.

Recommended Citation

Threlkeld, Samantha E., "Rainbow Row: Tourism, Color, and the Making of a Civic Icon, 1930s – 1960s" (2026). All Theses. 4750.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4750