A style fancifully based on medieval churches, that helped free Western architecture from classicism
A style fancifully based on medieval churches, that helped free Western architecture from classicism
Elements * = diagnostic
A few distinctive forms, based on early popular pattern books:
Nationwide. By the time the style's popularity waned, almost the entire nation had been settled. Greatest concentrations are areas settled by the height of the style, about 1840-1870.
1837; 1973; 1980
Rural Residences, etc. : consisting of designs, original and selected, for cottages, farm-houses, villas, and village churches, with brief explanations, estimates, and a specification of materials, construction, etc. / by Alexander Jackson Davis, and other architects.
1841, 1853, 1859, 1860, 1875
A treatise on the theory and practice of Landscape Gardening, adapted to North America; with a view to the improvement of country residences ... with remarks on rural architecture.
Online text and images in the two Landscape Gardening entries in "Making of America" series of University of Michigan. Gothic architectural illustrations in 1853 edition on pages 50a, 51, 54a, 58a, 273a ("Beautiful" vs. "Picturesque" styles of landscaping), 398a, 400a, 401a, 409a, 410a, 452a.
1842, 1844, 1852, 1856, 1873; 1967, 1973, 1981
Cottage Residences; or, A series of designs for rural cottages and cottage-villas, and their gardens and grounds.
1842
New York, London: Wiley and Putnam
2 p. l., viii, [9]-187 p. front., illus., 11 pl. (incl. plans) 25 cm.
1967
With a new introd. by Michael Hugo-Brunt.
Watkins Glen, N.Y.: Library of Victorian Culture
200 p. illus., plans. 24 cm.
1981
with a new preface by Adolf K. Placzek.
New York : Dover Publications
xvi, 261 p., [38] leaves of plates : ill., plans ; 22 cm.
1850, 1859, 1861, 1866; 1969
The Architecture of Country Houses; including designs for cottages, farm-houses, and villas, with remarks on interiors, furniture, and the best modes of warming and ventilating. With three hundred and twenty illustrations. By A. J. Downing.
New York : D. Appleton & Company
1969
New York : Dover Publications
x p., 1 L., 484 p., 321 illus. (plans) plates. 24 cm.
Online text and images in Architecture of Country Houses entry in "Making of America" series of University of Michigan
Predominantly Gothic Revival designs, but many Italianate and "Bracketed" styles. Some interior and frunishings, and farm outbuildings.
1852; 1973; 1975
Upjohn's Rural Architecture. Designs, working drawings and specifications for a wooden church, and other rural structures. By Richard Upjohn.
1872
Villas and Cottages. A series of designs prepared for execution in the United States. By Calvert Vaux, architect ... late Downing & Vaux ... Illustrated by 300 engravings.
New York : Harper & Brothers
xxiv, [25]-348 p. incl. front., illus., plates, plans. col. pl. 24 cm. 24 cm. New York,
Sloan, Samuel
Online Guides to the Style
Names
[- Gothic Revival. Most common and appropriate name.
- Used in A Field Guide to American Houses (McAlester & McAlester 1984) p.168-175.
]
Illustrations
See separate webpage
Examples
Built in 1856, it was remodelled a bit probably about 1865, and then enlarged about 1900. Serving as a restaurant in the 1970s, it is now offices.
A close-up of the Poland House shows castleated doorway casing, lancet windows, label moulds over the windows, oriel, vergeboard, and steep gable all certify this as a Gothic Revival house. (The oriel window is an early replacement of a balcony that the mother of the family thought was too dangerous for her brood.)
The front door also has Gothic trim, like another house in town.
Footnotes
< Styles_GothicRev.html >
v1.04 - 9/24/05, 9/23/05, 9/5/05
(Apologies to all from whom I have borrowed images)
© 2004 INTREPID HISTORICAL SERVICES - Kevin B. Coleman
Chillicothe, Ohio, USA