Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER

Why is the Golden Gate Bridge red?

SHORT ANSWER Its distinctive colour (which isn’t red) was not an aesthetic choice initially

LONG ANSWER First off, the name of the bridge has nothing to do with the colour, but refers to the stretch of water, the Golden Gate strait, it crosses to link San Francisco with Marin County. Secondly, the iconic suspension bridge isn’t red at all. The colour is actually called ‘international orange’.

During construction, from 1933 to 1937, some of the steel arrived already sporting the hue as a primer to protect the metal against corrosion. There was an ongoing discussion about what colour the bridge should be once finished – from the standard black or grey, to the US Navy’s more garish option of black and yellow stripes to ensure the bridge would remain visible to passing ships. A consulting architect named Irving Morrow, however, liked the original primer colour as he thought it complemented the surrounding landscape while also standing out clearly in fog.

With a total span of 1,966 metres and two huge towers rising 227 metres above the water, keeping the Golden Gate Bridge looking its best has been a daunting task ever since. The paintwork is in constant need of touching up, to the extent that the bridge’s staff maintain a bunker nearby filled with buckets of international orange.

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