Gothic Revival Architecture: Inside the History of Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture, also known as neo-Gothic or Victorian Gothic architecture, was an architectural style inspired by churches and other religious structures from the Middle Ages. The British Gothic architectural style is identifiable by its use of pointed arch windows, high walls, and elements drawn from medieval Gothic design, such as flying buttresses, support arches, battlements, parapets, and towers, among other ornamental and structural aspects.

Though the style traces back to the eighteenth century, it did not flourish until the nineteenth century, when its popularity in England spread throughout the British Empire. The style made its way across the pond to North America, giving rise to the American Gothic style of architecture for mansions, country houses, universities, and public buildings. New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Suffolk, England’s St. Edmundsbury Cathedral are two long-standing examples of the notable architectural style.

The American Gothic variation adopted the arched roof and windows and added regional variations like Carpenter Gothic, which featured gabled roofs and bargeboards—a sloped, triangular roof and the exterior house trim attached, respectively. One-story porches on homes, cottage residences, and religious and public structures were also part of the architectural style in the US.

Gothic Revival was invented during the Middle Ages, when architects began to craft churches and synagogues as large, ornate buildings to reflect the magnitude of God and the humble nature of humanity. Here is an overview of its history:

• French beginnings: The first building credited as Gothic Revival architecture was the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis in France, built between the eleventh and twelfth century. Its massive arches, stained glass windows, and elaborate floor plans that allowed for buildings of exceptional height would go on to serve as templates for religious buildings and secular structures, like palaces, castles, and fortresses, throughout the medieval era. Gothic medieval styles fell out of favor with the dawn of the Renaissance. Architects during that period regarded them as barbaric and dubbed them “Gothic” as a reference to the German Goth tribes that sacked Rome.
• Revival via Germany: The first stirrings of the Gothic Revival came with the eighteenth-century rise of Romanticism, which was a pushback against the oncoming Industrial Revolution and its focus on science and progress. The country home of author Horace Walpole, Strawberry Hill, gave elaborate Gothic elements an impressive showcase. Art critic John Ruskin further popularized Gothic forms. He and others considered it a response to then-popular neoclassical styles of architecture, such as the Greek Revival, which drew on the classical styles of the ancient world for inspiration.
• New styles flourish: By the nineteenth century, Gothic Revival had become a popular architectural form for public buildings like the Palace of Westminster, the meeting place for the Houses of Parliament in England. Architects Sir Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin outfitted the tower with numerous Gothic details, such as stone, towers, and pointed arches. By the mid-nineteenth century, Gothic Revival architecture had spread from England to other parts of the British Empire, including Canada, India, and Australia, but found a particularly warm reception in the United States.
• American Gothic: In the early 1800s, architect Ithiel Town was commissioned to design Trinity Church, one of the earliest Gothic-style churches in the United States. The historic landmark, located in New Haven, Connecticut, may have inspired the erection of subsequent Gothic-style churches in the US. Gothic Revival soon became the chosen style for many colleges and universities, including Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Gothic Revival homes also began to flourish during this period thanks to the writings of architect Alexander Jackson Davis and designer Andrew Jackson Downing. Their initial Gothic house plans, which embraced medieval elements, like spires and towers, were later toned down for rural residences. Gabled roofs, vertical features like pointed windows, “gingerbread” trim, vertical board, and batten siding became hallmarks of the American Gothic movement, which began to wane in the late nineteenth century before largely fading out in the mid-twentieth century.

There are many distinguishing features of Gothic Revival architecture, including:

1. 1. Castle design: Many early Gothic Revival houses and churches carried over elements from medieval Gothic design for castles. These elements included towers, parapets, a low wall that juts out from a terrace or roof, and battlements, a parapet with open spaces.
2. 2. Sprawling floor plans: Gothic Revival houses drew on the sprawling floor plans of medieval Gothic buildings, which were adapted from the irregular layout of basilicas. American Gothic floor plans, in particular, favored asymmetrical, L-shaped floor plans.
3. 3. Pitched roofs: A steep, pitched gable roof connected the Gothic Revival design to the arches of medieval Gothic origins. Carpenter Gothic style often emphasized the arch with roof gables and delicate wooden bargeboards, also known as vergeboards or gingerbread trim, or ornamental stylings like finials, a decorative ornament that serves as the top or end piece of an element.
4. 4. Window design: The large windows in Gothic Revival houses and buildings also echoed the pointed arch design. Homes may also feature windows with the clover-like quatrefoil pattern, or oriel windows, a Bay window style held over from medieval Gothic design.

Here are some examples of Gothic Revival buildings:

1. 1. Lyndhurst: Alexander Jackson Davis designed this Gothic Revival mansion in Tarrytown, New York, for railroad magnate Jay Gould in 1838. Located in a 67-acre park, Lyndhurst features high vaulted ceilings and arched windows associated with neo-Gothic style. Its striking, castle-like appearance has made it an ideal setting for many films and television series, including All My Children and The Blacklist.
2. 2. Strawberry Hill: Author Horace Walpole transformed this cottage located outside Twickenham, London, into a Gothic Revival villa between 1749 and 1776. Walpole added castle-like elements, including towers and battlements, and those drawn from churches, like vaulted ceilings and stained glass, which would serve as the foundation for the Gothic Revival movement. The house’s mysterious design is said to have influenced both his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, and its Gothic fiction subgenre.
3. 3. Palace of Westminster: Built during the Middle Ages as a home for the King of England, the palace also became a meeting place for the Houses of Parliament in 1295. A fire in 1834 left the palace severely damaged, and it was rebuilt in the Gothic tradition over the course of 30 years by architects Sir Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin. Neither man lived to see its completion, and interior work continued into the twentieth century.
4. 4. Washington National Cathedral: The third-largest church in the United States, the Washington National Cathedral, was built in 1907, with then-President Theodore Roosevelt in attendance for the cornerstone’s placement. Its design is neo-Gothic, with large spires, arched windows, and battlements.

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