![Oostende Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk R02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Oostende_Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk_R02.jpg)
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an
architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly serious and learned admirers of the neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...
, intending to complement or even supersede the
neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. Gothic Revival draws upon features of medieval examples, including decorative patterns,
finial
A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature.
In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...
s,
lancet window
A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...
s, and
hood mould
In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin ''labia'', lip), drip mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a ''pediment''. This mouldin ...
s. By the middle of the 19th century, Gothic had become the preeminent architectural style in the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. , only to fall out of fashion in the 1880s and early 1890s.
The Gothic Revival movement's roots are intertwined with philosophical movements associated with
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and a re-awakening of
high church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
or
Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
belief concerned by the growth of religious nonconformism. Ultimately, the "
Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
ism" tradition of religious belief and style became known for its intrinsic appeal in the third quarter of the 19th century. Gothic Revival architecture varied considerably in its faithfulness to both the ornamental style and principles of construction of its medieval original, sometimes amounting to little more than pointed window frames and touches of Gothic decoration on a building otherwise on a wholly 19th-century plan and using contemporary materials and construction methods, most notably in the use of iron and, after the 1880s, steel in ways never seen in medieval exemplars.
In parallel with the ascendancy of neo-Gothic styles in 19th-century England, interest spread to the rest of Europe, Australia, Africa and the Americas; the 19th and early 20th centuries saw the construction of very large numbers of Gothic Revival structures worldwide. The influence of
Revivalism
Revivalism may refer to:
* Christian revival, increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect
* Revivalism (architecture), the use of visual styles that consciously ...
had nevertheless peaked by the 1870s. New architectural movements, sometimes related as in the
Arts and Crafts movement, and sometimes in outright opposition, such as
Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
, gained ground, and by the 1930s the architecture of the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
was generally condemned or ignored. The later 20th century saw a revival of interest, manifested in the United Kingdom by the establishment of the
Victorian Society
The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...
in 1958.
Roots
The rise of
evangelicalism
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries saw in England a reaction in the
high church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
movement which sought to emphasise the continuity between the established church and the pre-
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
Catholic church. Architecture, in the form of the Gothic Revival, became one of the main weapons in the high church's armoury. The Gothic Revival was also paralleled and supported by "
medievalism
Medievalism is a system of belief and practice inspired by the Middle Ages of Europe, or by devotion to elements of that period, which have been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and variou ...
", which had its roots in
antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
concerns with survivals and curiosities. As "
industrialisation
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
" progressed, a reaction against machine production and the appearance of factories also grew. Proponents of the picturesque such as
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
and
Augustus Pugin
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...
took a critical view of industrial society and portrayed pre-industrial medieval society as a golden age. To Pugin, Gothic architecture was infused with the Christian values that had been supplanted by
classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aestheti ...
and were being destroyed by
industrialisation
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
.
Gothic Revival also took on political connotations; with the "rational" and "radical" Neoclassical style being seen as associated with
republicanism
Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...
and
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
(as evidenced by its use in the United States and to a lesser extent in
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
France), the more spiritual and traditional Gothic Revival became associated with
monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...
and
conservatism
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
, which was reflected by the choice of styles for the rebuilt government centres of the British parliament's
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
in London, the Canadian
Parliament Buildings in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
and the
Hungarian Parliament Building
The Hungarian Parliament Building ( hu, Országház , which translates to "House of the Country" or "House of the Nation"), also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable l ...
in Budapest.
In English literature, the architectural Gothic Revival and classical
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
gave rise to the
Gothic novel
Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...
genre, beginning with ''
The Castle of Otranto
''The Castle of Otranto'' is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – ''A Gothic Story''. Se ...
'' (1764) by
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician.
He had Strawb ...
, and inspired a 19th-century genre of medieval poetry that stems from the pseudo-
bardic poetry of "
Ossian
Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined under t ...
". Poems such as "
Idylls of the King
''Idylls of the King'', published between 1859 and 1885, is a Literature cycle, cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892; Poet Laureate from 1850) which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knig ...
" by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
recast specifically modern themes in medieval settings of
Arthurian
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a Legend, legendary king of Great Britain, Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest tradition ...
romance. In
German literature
German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...
, the Gothic Revival also had a grounding in literary fashions.
Survival and revival
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...
began at the
Basilica of Saint Denis
The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...
near Paris, and the
Cathedral of Sens
Sens Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Sens) is a Catholic cathedral in Sens in Burgundy, eastern France. The cathedral, dedicated to Saint Stephen, is the seat of the Archbishop of Sens.
Sens was the first cathedral to be built ...
in 1140 and ended with a last flourish in the early 16th century with buildings like
Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster. However, Gothic architecture did not die out completely in the 16th century but instead lingered in on-going cathedral-building projects; at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
Universities, and in the construction of churches in increasingly isolated rural districts of England, France, Germany, the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...
and in Spain.
Londonderry Cathedral
St Columb's Cathedral in the walled city of Derry, Northern Ireland, is the cathedral church and episcopal see of the Church of Ireland's Diocese of Derry and Raphoe. It is also the parish church of Templemore. It is dedicated to Saint Columba, ...
(completed 1633) was a major new structure in the
Perpendicular Gothic
Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-c ...
style.
In
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
, in 1646, the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
architect
Carlo Rainaldi
Carlo Rainaldi (4 May 1611 – 8 February 1691) was an Italian architect of the Baroque period.
Biography
Born in Rome, Rainaldi was one of the leading architects of 17th century Rome, known for a certain grandeur in his designs. He worked at f ...
constructed
Gothic vaults (completed 1658) for the
Basilica of San Petronio
The Basilica of San Petronio is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. It dominates Piazza Maggiore. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Petronius ...
in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
, which had been under construction since 1390; there, the Gothic context of the structure overrode considerations of the current architectural mode.
Guarino Guarini
Camillo Guarino Guarini (17 January 1624 – 6 March 1683) was an Italian architect of the Piedmontese Baroque, active in Turin as well as Sicily, France, and Portugal. He was a Theatine priest, mathematician, and writer..
Biography
Guarini wa ...
, a 17th-century Theatine monk active primarily in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, recognized the "Gothic order" as one of the primary systems of architecture and made use of it in his practice.
Likewise, Gothic architecture survived in an urban setting during the later 17th century, as shown in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, where some additions and repairs to Gothic buildings were considered to be more in keeping with the style of the original structures than contemporary
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
.
Sir Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
's
Tom Tower
Tom Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England, named after its bell, Great Tom. It is over Tom Gate, on St Aldates, the main entrance of Christ Church, Oxford, which leads into Tom Quad. This square tower with an octagonal lantern and facett ...
for
Christ Church,
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, and, later,
Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principa ...
's west towers of
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
, blur the boundaries between what is called Gothic survival and the Gothic Revival. Throughout France in the 16th and 17th centuries, churches such as
St-Eustache continued to be built following Gothic forms cloaked in classical details, until the arrival of Baroque architecture.
![Strawberry Hill House 4 (29886640996)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Strawberry_Hill_House_4_%2829886640996%29.jpg)
During the mid-18th century rise of
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, an increased interest and awareness of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
among influential connoisseurs created a more appreciative approach to selected
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
arts, beginning with church architecture, the tomb monuments of royal and noble personages, stained glass, and late Gothic illuminated manuscripts. Other Gothic arts, such as tapestries and metalwork, continued to be disregarded as barbaric and crude, however sentimental and nationalist associations with historical figures were as strong in this early revival as purely aesthetic concerns.
German Romanticists (including philosopher and writer
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
and architect
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassica ...
), began to appreciate the
picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...
character of ruins—"picturesque" becoming a new aesthetic quality—and those mellowing effects of time that the Japanese call ''
wabi-sabi
In traditional Japanese aesthetics, is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" in nature. I ...
'' and that
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician.
He had Strawb ...
independently admired, mildly tongue-in-cheek, as "the true rust of the Barons' wars". The "Gothick" details of Walpole's Twickenham villa,
Strawberry Hill House
Strawberry Hill House—often called simply Strawberry Hill—is a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London, by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) from 1749 onward. It is a typical example of the "#Strawb ...
begun in 1749, appealed to the
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
tastes of the time, and were fairly quickly followed by James Talbot at
Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. The abbey remained a nunnery until the suppression of Roman Catholic inst ...
, Wiltshire. By the 1770s, thoroughly neoclassical architects such as
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
and
James Wyatt
James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806.
Early life
W ...
were prepared to provide Gothic details in drawing-rooms, libraries and chapels and, for William Beckford at
Fonthill in Wiltshire, a complete romantic vision of a Gothic abbey.
Some of the earliest architectural examples of the revived are found in Scotland.
Inveraray Castle
Inveraray Castle (pronounced or ; Scottish Gaelic ''Caisteal Inbhir Aora'' ) is a country house near Inveraray in the county of Argyll, in western Scotland, on the shore of Loch Fyne, Scotland's longest sea loch. It is one of the earliest ex ...
, constructed from 1746 for the
Duke of Argyll
Duke of Argyll ( gd, Diùc Earraghàidheil) is a title created in the peerage of Scotland in 1701 and in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1892. The earls, marquesses, and dukes of Argyll were for several centuries among the most powerful ...
, with design input from
William Adam, displays the incorporation of turrets. The architectural historian John Gifford writes that the castellations were the "symbolic assertion of the still quasi-feudal power
he duke
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
exercised over the inhabitants within his heritable jurisdictions". Most buildings were still largely in the established
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
style, but some houses incorporated external features of the Scots baronial style. Robert Adam's houses in this style include
Mellerstain
Mellerstain House is a stately home around north of Kelso in the Borders, Scotland. It is currently the home of the 14th Earl of Haddington, and is a historical monument of Scotland.
History
The older house or castle at Mellerstain included ...
and
Wedderburn in Berwickshire and
Seton Castle
Seton Castle is an 18th-century Georgian castle in East Lothian, Scotland. The castle was Robert Adam's final project in Scotland.
History
Seton Castle was built in the late 1700s on the site of Seton Palace, which was demolished in 1789. The ...
in East Lothian, but it is most clearly seen at
Culzean Castle
Culzean Castle ( , see yogh; sco, Cullain) is a castle overlooking the Firth of Clyde, near Maybole, Carrick, in South Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa, the chief of Clan Kennedy, but is ...
, Ayrshire, remodelled by Adam from 1777. The eccentric landscape designer
Batty Langley
Batty Langley (''baptised'' 14 September 1696 – 3 March 1751) was an English garden designer, and prolific writer who produced a number of engraved designs for "Gothick" structures, summerhouses and garden seats in the years before the mid-18th ...
even attempted to "improve" Gothic forms by giving them classical proportions.
![Basilica of Saint Clotilde Sanctuary, Paris, France - Diliff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Basilica_of_Saint_Clotilde_Sanctuary%2C_Paris%2C_France_-_Diliff.jpg)
A younger generation, taking Gothic architecture more seriously, provided the readership for John Britton's series ''Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain'', which began appearing in 1807. In 1817,
Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...
wrote an ''Attempt...'' to name and define the sequence of Gothic styles in English ecclesiastical architecture, "a text-book for the architectural student". Its long antique title is descriptive: ''Attempt to discriminate the styles of English architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation; preceded by a sketch of the Grecian and Roman orders, with notices of nearly five hundred English buildings''. The categories he used were
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
,
Early English,
Decorated, and
Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...
. It went through numerous editions, was still being republished by 1881, and has been reissued in the 21st century.
The most common use for Gothic Revival architecture was in the building of churches. Major examples of Gothic cathedrals in the U.S. include the cathedrals of
St. John the Divine and
St. Patrick
ST, St, or St. may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Stanza, in poetry
* Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band
* Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise
* Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
in New York City and the
Washington National Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...
on Mount St. Alban in northwest
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
One of the biggest churches in Gothic Revival style in Canada is
Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate
Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and parish church in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. A Gothic Revival style building constructed between 1876 and 1888 by architect Joseph Connolly, it is considered Co ...
in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
.
Gothic Revival architecture remained one of the most popular and long-lived of the many
revival styles of architecture. Although it began to lose force and popularity after the third quarter of the 19th century in commercial, residential and industrial fields, some buildings such as churches, schools, colleges and universities were still constructed in the Gothic style, often known as "Collegiate Gothic", which remained popular in England, Canada and in the United States until well into the early to mid-20th century. Only when new materials, like steel and glass along with concern for function in everyday working life and saving space in the cities, meaning the need to build up instead of out, began to take hold did the Gothic Revival start to disappear from popular building requests.
Decorative
![Abbotsford House Study Room](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Abbotsford_House_Study_Room.jpg)
The revived Gothic style was not limited to architecture. Classical Gothic buildings of the 12th to 16th Centuries were a source of inspiration to 19th-century designers in numerous fields of work. Architectural elements such as pointed arches, steep-sloping roofs and fancy carvings like lace and lattice work were applied to a wide range of Gothic Revival objects. Some examples of Gothic Revivals influence can be found in heraldic motifs in coats of arms, painted furniture with elaborate painted scenes like the whimsical Gothic detailing in English furniture is traceable as far back as
Lady Pomfret's house in Arlington Street, London (1740s), and Gothic fretwork in chairbacks and glazing patterns of bookcases is a familiar feature of
Chippendale's ''Director'' (1754, 1762), where, for example, the three-part bookcase employs Gothic details with Rococo profusion, on a symmetrical form.
Abbotsford in the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
, rebuilt from 1816 by
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
and paid for by the profits from his, hugely successful, historical novels, exemplifies the "Regency Gothic" style. Gothic Revival also includes the reintroduction of medieval clothes and dances in historical re-enactments staged especially in the second part of the 19th century, although one of the first, the
Eglinton Tournament Eglinton can refer to:
People
* Earl of Eglinton, a title in the Peerage of Scotland
* Geoffrey Eglinton (1927–2016), British chemist
*Timothy Eglinton, a British biogeoscientist
* William Eglinton (1857–1933), a British spiritualist medium a ...
of 1839, remains the most famous.
By the mid-19th century, Gothic traceries and niches could be inexpensively re-created in
wallpaper
Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so t ...
, and Gothic blind arcading could decorate a ceramic pitcher. Writing in 1857,
J. G. Crace
John Gregory Crace (26 May 1809 – 13 August 1889) was a British Interior decoration, interior decorator and author.
Early life and education
The Crace family had been prominent London Interior decoration, interior decorators since Edward Crac ...
, an influential decorator from a family of influential interior designers, expressed his preference for the Gothic style: "In my opinion there is no quality of lightness, elegance, richness or beauty possessed by any other style...
rin which the principles of sound construction can be so well carried out". The illustrated catalogue for the
Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...
of 1851 is replete with Gothic detail, from lacemaking and carpet designs to heavy machinery.
Nikolaus Pevsner's volume on the exhibits at the Great Exhibition, ''High Victorian Design'' published in 1951, was an important contribution to the academic study of
Victorian taste and an early indicator of the later 20th century rehabilitation of Victorian architecture and the objects with which they decorated their buildings.
In 1847, eight thousand British
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
coins were minted in
proof
Proof most often refers to:
* Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition
* Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength
Proof may also refer to:
Mathematics and formal logic
* Formal proof, a con ...
condition with the design using an ornate reverse in keeping with the revived style. Considered by collectors to be particularly beautiful, they are known as 'Gothic crowns'. The design was repeated in 1853, again in proof. A similar two shilling coin, the 'Gothic
florin
The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...
' was minted for circulation from 1851 to 1887.
Romanticism and nationalism
![Rouen France Palais-de-justice-03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Rouen_France_Palais-de-justice-03.jpg)
French neo-Gothic had its roots in the French
medieval Gothic architecture, where it was created in the 12th century. Gothic architecture was sometimes known during the medieval period as the "Opus Francigenum", (the "French Art"). French scholar
Alexandre de Laborde
Comte Louis-Joseph-Alexandre de Laborde (17 September 1773 – 20 October 1842) was a French antiquary, liberal politician and writer, a member of the Académie des Sciences morales et politiquesThe Académie des Sciences morales et politiques is ...
wrote in 1816 that "Gothic architecture has beauties of its own", which marked the beginning of the Gothic Revival in France. Starting in 1828, Alexandre Brogniart, the director of the
Sèvres porcelain manufactory, produced fired enamel paintings on large panes of plate glass, for
King Louis-Philippe
Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France.
As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...
's
Chapelle royale de Dreux
The Royal Chapel of Dreux (french: Chapelle royale de Dreux) situated in Dreux, France, is the traditional burial place of members of the House of Orléans. It is an important early building in the French adoption of Gothic Revival architecture, ...
, an important early French commission in Gothic taste, preceded mainly by some Gothic features in a few ''
jardins paysagers''.
![P1020476 Paris VII Basilique Saint-Clotilde rwk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/P1020476_Paris_VII_Basilique_Saint-Clotilde_rwk.JPG)
The French Gothic Revival was set on sounder intellectual footings by a pioneer,
Arcisse de Caumont
Arcisse de Caumont (20 August 1801, Bayeux – 16 April 1873) was a French historian and archaeologist.
Biography
Arcisse Caumont was born at Bayeux to François de Caumont and Marie-Louise de Mathan Hue. One of his mentors was Charles de Gervi ...
, who founded the Societé des Antiquaires de Normandie at a time when ''antiquaire'' still meant a connoisseur of antiquities, and who published his great work on architecture in French Normandy in 1830. The following year
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
's historical romance novel ''
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story o ...
'' appeared, in which the great
Gothic cathedral of Paris was at once a setting and a protagonist in a hugely popular work of fiction. Hugo intended his book to awaken a concern for the surviving Gothic architecture left in Europe, however, rather than to initiate a craze for neo-Gothic in contemporary life. In the same year that ''Notre-Dame de Paris'' appeared, the new French restored
Bourbon Bourbon may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash
* Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels
* Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit
* A beer produced by Bras ...
monarchy established an office in the Royal French Government of Inspector-General of Ancient Monuments, a post which was filled in 1833 by
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...
, who became the secretary of a new Commission des Monuments Historiques in 1837. This was the Commission that instructed
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (; 27 January 181417 September 1879) was a French architect and author who restored many prominent medieval landmarks in France, including those which had been damaged or abandoned during the French Revolution. H ...
to report on the condition of the
Abbey of Vézelay in 1840. Following this, Viollet le Duc set out to restore most of the symbolic buildings in France including Notre Dame de Paris, Vézelay,
Carcassonne
Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department.
Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...
,
Roquetaillade castle
Roquetaillade (; Languedocien: ''Ròcatalhada'') is a former commune in the Aude department in southern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Roquetaillade-et-Conilhac.Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey
The Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey is an abbey located within the city and island of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, in the department of Manche.
The abbey is an essential part of the structural composition of the town the feudal society constructed. On ...
on its peaked coastal island,
Pierrefonds, and
Palais des Papes
The Palais des Papes (English: Palace of the Popes; ''lo Palais dei Papas'' in Occitan) is a historical palace located in Avignon, Southern France. It is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. Once a fortress a ...
in
Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
. When France's first prominent neo-Gothic church was built, the
Basilica of Saint-Clotilde, Paris, begun in 1846 and consecrated in 1857, the architect chosen was of German extraction,
Franz Christian Gau
Franz Christian Gau (15 June 1790, in Cologne – January 1854, in Paris) was a French architect and archaeologist of German descent.
In 1809 he entered the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and in 1815 visited Italy and Sicily. In 1817 he went to ...
, (1790–1853); the design was significantly modified by Gau's assistant,
Théodore Ballu
Théodore Ballu (8 June 1817 – 22 May 1885) was a French architect who designed numerous public buildings in Paris . He is the grandfather of the industrialist and politician Guillaume Ballu.
Winning the Prix de Rome
In 1840, Théodore Ball ...
, in the later stages, to produce the pair of ''flèches'' that crown the west end.
In Germany, there was a renewal of interest in the completion of
Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of ...
. Begun in 1248, it was still unfinished at the time of the revival. The 1820s "Romantic" movement brought a new appreciation of the building, and construction work began once more in 1842, marking a German return for Gothic architecture.
St. Vitus Cathedral
, native_name_lang = Czech
, image = St Vitus Prague September 2016-21.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, imagelink =
, imagealt =
, landscape =
, caption ...
in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, begun in 1344, was also completed in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. The importance of the Cologne completion project in German-speaking lands has been explored by Michael J. Lewis, ''"The Politics of the German Gothic Revival: August Reichensperger"''. Reichensperger was himself in no doubt as to the cathedral's central position in Germanic culture; "Cologne Cathedral is German to the core, it is a national monument in the fullest sense of the word, and probably the most splendid monument to be handed down to us from the past".
Because of
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...
in the early 19th century, the Germans, French and English all claimed the original Gothic architecture of the 12th century era as originating in their own country. The English boldly coined the term "Early English" for "Gothic", a term that implied Gothic architecture was an English creation. In his 1832 edition of ''Notre Dame de Paris'', author Victor Hugo said "Let us inspire in the nation, if it is possible, love for the national architecture", implying that "Gothic" is France's national heritage. In Germany, with the completion of Cologne Cathedral in the 1880s, at the time its summit was the world's tallest building, the cathedral was seen as the height of Gothic architecture. Other major completions of Gothic cathedrals were of
Regensburger Dom
Regensburg Cathedral (german: Dom St. Peter or Regensburger Dom), also known as St. Peter's Cathedral, is an example of important Gothic architecture within the German state of Bavaria. It is a landmark for the city of Regensburg, Germany, and ...
(with twin
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
s completed from 1869 to 1872),
Ulm Münster
Ulm Minster (german: Ulmer Münster) is a Lutheran church located in Ulm, State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is currently the tallest church in the world. The church is the fifth-tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a ...
(with a 161-meter tower from 1890) and
St. Vitus Cathedral
, native_name_lang = Czech
, image = St Vitus Prague September 2016-21.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, imagelink =
, imagealt =
, landscape =
, caption ...
in Prague (1844–1929).
![Cologne Germany Exterior-view-of-Cologne-Cathedral-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Cologne_Germany_Exterior-view-of-Cologne-Cathedral-01.jpg)
In Belgium, a 15th-century church in
Ostend
Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...
burned down in 1896. King
Leopold II funded its replacement, the
Saint Peter's and Saint Paul's Church, a cathedral-scale design which drew inspiration from the neo-Gothic
Votive Church in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and Cologne Cathedral.
In
Mechelen
Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...
, the largely unfinished building drawn in 1526 as the seat of the
Great Council of The Netherlands, was not actually built until the early 20th century, although it closely followed
Rombout II Keldermans Rombout II Keldermans (ca. 1460 in Mechelen – 15 December 1531 in Antwerp), was an important architect from the Gothic period, born from a family of architects and sculptors (see Keldermans family).
He was city architect of Mechelen and cou ...
's
Brabantine Gothic
Brabantine Gothic, occasionally called Brabantian Gothic, is a significant variant of Gothic architecture that is typical for the Low Countries. It surfaced in the first half of the 14th century at St. Rumbold's Cathedral in the City of Mechele ...
design, and became the 'new' north wing of the City Hall.
In
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, the
Duomo
''Duomo'' (, ) is an Italian term for a church with the features of, or having been built to serve as, a cathedral, whether or not it currently plays this role. Monza Cathedral, for example, has never been a diocesan seat and is by definition not ...
's temporary façade erected for the Medici-House of Lorraine nuptials in 1588–1589, was dismantled, and the west end of the cathedral stood bare again until 1864, when a competition was held to design a new façade suitable to
Arnolfo di Cambio
Arnolfo di Cambio (c. 1240 – 1300/1310) was an Italian architect and sculptor. He designed Florence Cathedral and the sixth city wall around Florence (1284–1333), while his most important surviving work as a sculptor is the tomb of Cardin ...
's original structure and the fine
campanile
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
next to it. This competition was won by
Emilio De Fabris
Emilio De Fabris (28 October 1808 – 3 June 1883) was an Italian architect best known for his design of the west facade of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence.
De Fabris was born in Florence, Italy. He initially studied at the Academy of Fine ...
, and so work on his polychrome design and panels of
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
was begun in 1876 and completed by 1887, creating the Neo-Gothic western façade.
Eastern Europe also saw much Revival construction; in addition to the
Hungarian Parliament Building
The Hungarian Parliament Building ( hu, Országház , which translates to "House of the Country" or "House of the Nation"), also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable l ...
in Budapest, the
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival ( bg, Българско национално възраждане, ''Balgarsko natsionalno vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and tr, Bulgar ulus canlanması) sometimes called the Bu ...
saw the introduction of Gothic Revival elements into its vernacular ecclesiastical and residential architecture. The largest project of the Slavine School is the
Lopushna Monastery cathedral (1850–1853), though later churches such as
Saint George's Church, Gavril Genovo
Saint George's Church ( bg, църква „Свети Георги“, ''tsarkva „Sveti Georgi“'') is a church in Gavril Genovo, a village in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Georgi Damyanovo municipality, Montana Province. It was built in 1873 ...
display more prominent vernacular Gothic Revival features.
In Scotland, while a similar Gothic style to that used further south in England was adopted by figures including
Frederick Thomas Pilkington
Frederick Thomas Pilkington (1832-1898), pupil of his father, was a "Rogue" British architect, practising in the Victorian architecture, Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, High Gothic revival style. He designed mostly churches and instituti ...
(1832–98) in secular architecture it was marked by the re-adoption of the
Scots baronial
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...
style. Important for the adoption of the style in the early 19th century was Abbotsford, which became a model for the modern revival of the baronial style. Common features borrowed from 16th- and 17th-century houses included
battlemented gateways,
crow-stepped gable
A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a ...
s, pointed
turrets and
machicolations
A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at t ...
. The style was popular across Scotland and was applied to many relatively modest dwellings by architects such as
William Burn
William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...
(1789–1870),
David Bryce
David Bryce FRSE FRIBA RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scottish architect.
Life
Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David Bryce (1763–1816) a grocer with a successful side interest in buildi ...
(1803–76),
Edward Blore
Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary.
Early career
He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore.
Blore's backg ...
(1787–1879),
Edward Calvert () and
Robert Stodart Lorimer
Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Gothi ...
(1864–1929) and in urban contexts, including the building of
Cockburn Street
Cockburn Street is a picturesque street in Edinburgh's Old Town, created as a serpentine link from the Royal Mile#High Street, High Street to Waverley Station in 1856. It is named after the then recently-deceased Scottish lawyer, judge and lit ...
in Edinburgh (from the 1850s) as well as the National
Wallace Monument
The National Wallace Monument (generally known as the Wallace Monument) is a 67 metre tower on the shoulder of the Abbey Craig, a hilltop overlooking Stirling in Scotland. It commemorates Sir William Wallace, a 13th- and 14th-century Scottish hero ...
at Stirling (1859–1869). The reconstruction of
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen.
The estate and its original castle were bought ...
as a baronial palace and its adoption as a royal retreat from 1855 to 1858 confirmed the popularity of the style.
In the United States, the first "Gothic stile" church (as opposed to churches with Gothic elements) was
Trinity Church on the Green
Trinity Church on the Green or Trinity on the Green is a historic, culturally and community-active parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut in New Haven, Connecticut, of the Episcopal Church. It is one of three historic churches on the Ne ...
, New Haven, Connecticut. It was designed by
Ithiel Town
Ithiel Town (October 3, 1784 – June 13, 1844) was an American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the ...
between 1812 and 1814, while he was building his
Federalist-style Center Church, New Haven next to this radical new "Gothic-style" church. Its cornerstone was laid in 1814, and it was consecrated in 1816. It predates
St Luke's Church, Chelsea
The Parish Church of St Luke, Chelsea, is an Anglican church, on Sydney Street, Chelsea, London SW3, just off the King's Road. Ecclesiastically it is in the Deanery of Chelsea, part of the Diocese of London. It was designed by James Savage in 1 ...
, often said to be the first Gothic-revival church in London. Though built of
trap rock
Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A ...
stone with arched windows and doors, parts of its tower and its battlements were wood. Gothic buildings were subsequently erected by Episcopal congregations in Connecticut at St John's in Salisbury (1823), St John's in Kent (1823–26) and St Andrew's in Marble Dale (1821–1823). These were followed by Town's design for
Christ Church Cathedral (Hartford, Connecticut)
Christ Church Cathedral is a historic church at 955 Main Street in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Built in the 1820s to a design by Ithiel Town, it is one of the earliest known examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States. It ...
(1827), which incorporated Gothic elements such as buttresses into fabric of the church.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy, New York, was constructed in 1827–1828 as an exact copy of Town's design for Trinity Church, New Haven, but using local stone; due to changes in the original, St. Paul's is closer to Town's original design than Trinity itself. In the 1830s, architects began to copy specific English Gothic and Gothic Revival Churches, and these "'mature Gothic Revival' buildings made the domestic Gothic style architecture which preceded it seem primitive and old-fashioned".
There are many examples of
Gothic Revival architecture in Canada
Gothic Revival architecture in Canada is an historically influential style, with many prominent examples. The Gothic Revival was imported to Canada from Britain and the United States in the early 19th century, and rose to become the most popular st ...
. The first major structure was
Notre-Dame Basilica in
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
, which was designed in 1824. The capital,
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, was predominantly a 19th-century creation in the Gothic Revival style. The
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their architectu ...
buildings were the preeminent example, of which the original library survives today (after the rest was destroyed by fire in 1916). Their example was followed elsewhere in the city and outlying areas, showing how popular the Gothic Revival movement had become.
[ Other examples of Canadian Gothic Revival architecture in Ottawa are the ]Victoria Memorial Museum
The Canadian Museum of Nature (french: Musée canadien de la nature; CMN) is a national natural history museum based in Canada's National Capital Region. The museum's exhibitions and public programs are housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum Bu ...
, (1905–08), the Royal Canadian Mint
}) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada.
The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures ...
, (1905–08), and the Connaught Building
The Connaught Building is a historic office building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by Public Services and Procurement Canada. It is located at 555 MacKenzie Avenue, just south of the American Embassy. To the east, the building looks out on the ...
, (1913–16), all by David Ewart
David Ewart, ISO (18 February 1841 – 6 June 1921) was a Canadian architect who served as Chief Dominion Architect from 1896 to 1914.
As chief government architect he was responsible for many of the federal buildings constructed in this period. ...
.
Gothic as a moral force
Pugin and "truth" in architecture
In the late 1820s, A. W. N. Pugin
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...
, still a teenager, was working for two highly visible employers, providing Gothic detailing for luxury goods. For the Royal furniture makers Morel and Seddon he provided designs for redecorations for the elderly George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
in a Gothic taste suited to the setting. For the royal silversmiths Rundell Bridge and Co., Pugin provided designs for silver from 1828, using the 14th-century Anglo-French Gothic vocabulary that he would continue to favour later in designs for the new Palace of Westminster. Between 1821 and 1838 Pugin and his father published a series of volumes of architectural drawings, the first two entitled, ''Specimens of Gothic Architecture'', and the following three, ''Examples of Gothic Architecture'', that were to remain both in print and the standard references for Gothic Revivalists for at least the next century.
In ''Contrasts: or, a Parallel between the Noble Edifices of the Middle Ages, and similar Buildings of the Present Day'' (1836), Pugin expressed his admiration not only for medieval art but for the whole medieval ethos, suggesting that Gothic architecture was the product of a purer society. In ''The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture'' (1841), he set out his "two great rules of design: 1st, that there should be no features about a building which are not necessary for convenience, construction or propriety; 2nd, that all ornament should consist of enrichment of the essential construction of the building". Urging modern craftsmen to seek to emulate the style of medieval workmanship as well as reproduce its methods, Pugin sought to reinstate Gothic as the true Christian architectural style.
Pugin's most notable project was the Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...
in London, after its predecessor was largely destroyed in a fire in 1834. His part in the design consisted of two campaigns, 1836–1837 and again in 1844 and 1852, with the classicist Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...
as his nominal superior. Pugin provided the external decoration and the interiors, while Barry designed the symmetrical layout of the building, causing Pugin to remark, "All Grecian, Sir; Tudor details on a classic body".
Ruskin and Venetian Gothic
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...
supplemented Pugin's ideas in his two influential theoretical works, ''The Seven Lamps of Architecture
''The Seven Lamps of Architecture'' is an extended essay, first published in May 1849 and written by the English art critic and theorist John Ruskin. The 'lamps' of the title are Ruskin's principles of architecture, which he later enlarged upon i ...
'' (1849) and ''The Stones of Venice'' (1853). Finding his architectural ideal in Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, Ruskin proposed that Gothic buildings excelled above all other architecture because of the "sacrifice" of the stone-carvers in intricately decorating every stone. In this, he drew a contrast between the physical and spiritual satisfaction which a medieval craftsman derived from his work, and the lack of these satisfactions afforded to modern, industrialised
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econom ...
labour.
By declaring the Doge's Palace
The Doge's Palace ( it, Palazzo Ducale; vec, Pałaso Dogal) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme auth ...
to be "the central building of the world", Ruskin argued the case for Gothic government buildings as Pugin had done for churches, though mostly only in theory. When his ideas were put into practice, Ruskin often disliked the result, although he supported many architects, such as Thomas Newenham Deane
Sir Thomas Newenham Deane (1828 – 8 November 1899) was an Irish architect, the son of Sir Thomas Deane and Eliza Newenham, and the father of Sir Thomas Manly Deane. His father and son were also architects.
Works attributed to Thomas Newen ...
and Benjamin Woodward
Benjamin Woodward (16 November 1816 – 15 May 1861) was an Irish architect who, in partnership with Sir Thomas Newenham Deane, designed a number of buildings in Dublin, Cork and Oxford.
Life
Woodward was born in Tullamore, County Offaly, Irela ...
, and was reputed to have designed some of the corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
decorations for that pair's Oxford University Museum of Natural History
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It a ...
. A major clash between the Gothic and Classical styles in relation to governmental offices occurred less than a decade after the publication of ''The Stones of Venice''. A public competition for the construction of a new Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
in Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...
saw the decision to award first place to a Gothic design by George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
overturned by the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...
, who successfully demanded a building in the Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
style.
Ecclesiology and funerary style
In England, the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
was undergoing a revival of Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
and ritualist
Ritualism, in the history of Christianity, refers to an emphasis on the rituals and liturgical ceremonies of the church. Specifically, the Christian ritual of Holy Communion.
In the Anglican church in the 19th century, the role of ritual became ...
ideology in the form of the Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
, and it became desirable to build large numbers of new churches to cater for the growing population, and cemeteries for their hygienic burials. This found ready exponents in the universities, where the ecclesiological movement
The Cambridge Camden Society, known from 1845 (when it moved to London) as the Ecclesiological Society,[Histor ...](_blank)
was forming. Its proponents believed that Gothic was the ''only'' style appropriate for a parish church, and favoured a particular era of Gothic architecture – the " decorated". The Cambridge Camden Society
The Cambridge Camden Society, known from 1845 (when it moved to London) as the Ecclesiological Society,[Histor ...](_blank)
, through its journal ''The Ecclesiologist'', was so savagely critical of new church buildings that were below its exacting standards and its pronouncements were followed so avidly that it became the epicentre of the flood of Victorian restoration
The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proce ...
that affected most of the Anglican cathedrals and parish churches in England and Wales.
St Luke's Church, Chelsea
The Parish Church of St Luke, Chelsea, is an Anglican church, on Sydney Street, Chelsea, London SW3, just off the King's Road. Ecclesiastically it is in the Deanery of Chelsea, part of the Diocese of London. It was designed by James Savage in 1 ...
, was a new-built Commissioner's Church
A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplied ...
of 1820–24, partly built using a grant of £8,333 towards its construction with money voted by Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
as a result of the Church Building Act of 1818. It is often said to be the first Gothic Revival church in London, and, as Charles Locke Eastlake
Charles Locke Eastlake (11 March 1836 – 20 November 1906) was a British architect and furniture designer.
His uncle, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake PRA (born in 1793), was a Keeper of the National Gallery, from 1843 to 1847, and from 1855 its fi ...
put it: "probably the only church of its time in which the main roof was groined throughout in stone". Nonetheless, the parish was firmly low church, and the original arrangement, modified in the 1860s, was as a "preaching church" dominated by the pulpit, with a small altar and wooden galleries over the nave aisle.
The development of the private major metropolitan cemeteries was occurring at the same time as the movement; Sir William Tite
Sir William Tite (7 February 179820 April 1873) was an English architect who twice served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was particularly associated with various London buildings, with railway stations and cemetery ...
pioneered the first cemetery in the Gothic style at West Norwood
West Norwood is a largely residential area of south London within the London Borough of Lambeth, located 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south south-east of Charing Cross. The centre of West Norwood sits in a bowl surrounded by hillsides on its east ...
in 1837, with chapels, gates, and decorative features in the Gothic manner, attracting the interest of contemporary architects such as George Edmund Street
George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccle ...
, Barry, and William Burges
William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...
. The style was immediately hailed a success and universally replaced the previous preference for classical design.
Not every architect or client was swept away by this tide. Although Gothic Revival succeeded in becoming an increasingly familiar style of architecture, the attempt to associate it with the notion of high church superiority, as advocated by Pugin and the ecclesiological movement, was anathema to those with ecumenical or nonconformist principles. Alexander "Greek" Thomson
Alexander "Greek" Thomson (9 April 1817 – 22 March 1875) was an eminent Scottish architect and architectural theorist who was a pioneer in sustainable building. Although his work was published in the architectural press of his day, it was ...
launched a famous attack; "We are told we should adopt othicbecause it is the Christian style, and this most impudent assertion has been accepted as sound doctrine even by earnest and intelligent Protestants; whereas it ought only to have force with those who believe that Christian truth attained its purest and most spiritual development at the period when this style of architecture constituted its corporeal form". Those rejecting the link between Gothic and Catholicism looked to adopt it solely for its aesthetic romantic qualities, to combine it with other styles, or look to northern European Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic (german: Backsteingotik, pl, Gotyk ceglany, nl, Baksteengotiek) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resourc ...
for a more plain appearance; or in some instances all three of these, as at the non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park cemetery is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries in London, England.
Abney Park in Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney, D ...
in east London, designed by William Hosking FSA in 1840.
Viollet-le-Duc and Iron Gothic
France had lagged slightly in entering the neo-Gothic scene, but produced a major figure in the revival in Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (; 27 January 181417 September 1879) was a French architect and author who restored many prominent medieval landmarks in France, including those which had been damaged or abandoned during the French Revolution. H ...
. As well as a powerful and influential theorist, Viollet-le-Duc was a leading architect whose genius lay in restoration. He believed in restoring buildings to a state of completion that they would not have known even when they were first built, theories he applied to his restorations of the walled city of Carcassonne
Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department.
Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...
, and to Notre-Dame and Sainte Chapelle
The Sainte-Chapelle (; en, Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France.
Co ...
in Paris. In this respect he differed from his English counterpart Ruskin, as he often replaced the work of mediaeval stonemasons. His rational approach to Gothic stood in stark contrast to the revival's romanticist origins. Throughout his career he remained in a quandary as to whether iron and masonry should be combined in a building. Iron had in fact been used in Gothic buildings since the earliest days of the revival. It was only with Ruskin and the archaeological Gothic's demand for historical truth that iron, whether it was visible or not, was deemed improper for a Gothic building. Ultimately, the utility of iron won out: "substituting a cast iron shaft for a granite, marble or stone column is not bad, but one must agree that it cannot be considered as an innovation, as the introduction of a new principle. Replacing a stone or wooden lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
by an iron breastsummer is very good". He strongly opposed illusion, however: reacting against the casing of a cast iron pillar in stone, he wrote; "il faut que la pierre paraisse bien être de la pierre; le fer, du fer; le bois, du bois" (stone must appear to be stone; iron, iron; wood, wood).
The arguments against modern construction materials began to collapse in the mid-19th century as great prefabricated structures such as the glass and iron Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building
* ...
and the glazed courtyard of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It a ...
were erected, which appeared to embody Gothic principles. Between 1863 and 1872 Viollet-le-Duc published his ''Entretiens sur l'architecture'', a set of daring designs for buildings that combined iron and masonry. Though these projects were never realised, they influenced several generations of designers and architects, notably Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barcel ...
in Spain and, in England, Benjamin Bucknall
Benjamin Bucknall (1833 – 16 November 1895) was an English architect of the Gothic Revival in South West England and South Wales, and then of neo-Moorish architecture in Algeria. His most noted works include the uncompleted Woodchester Mans ...
, Viollet's foremost English follower and translator, whose masterpiece was Woodchester Mansion
Woodchester Mansion is an unfinished, Gothic revival mansion house in Nympsfield, Gloucestershire, England. It is on the site of an earlier house known as Spring Park. The mansion is a Grade I listed building.
The mansion was abandoned by its b ...
. The flexibility and strength of cast-iron freed neo-Gothic designers to create new structural Gothic forms impossible in stone, as in Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...
's cast-iron Gothic bridge in Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, New York dating from the 1860. Vaux enlisted openwork forms derived from Gothic blind-arcading and window tracery to express the spring and support of the arching bridge, in flexing forms that presage Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
.
Collegiate Gothic
In the United States, Collegiate Gothic was a late and literal resurgence of the English Gothic Revival, adapted for American university campuses. The term "Collegiate Gothic" originated from American architect Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis (July 24, 1803 – January 14, 1892), was an American architect, known particularly for his association with the Gothic Revival style.
Education
Davis was born in New York City and studied at t ...
's handwritten description of his own "English Collegiate Gothic Mansion" of 1853 for the Harrals of Bridgeport. By the 1890s, the movement was known as "Collegiate Gothic".
The firm of Cope & Stewardson
Cope and Stewardson (1885–1912) was a Philadelphia architecture firm founded by Walter Cope and John Stewardson, and best known for its Collegiate Gothic building and campus designs. Cope and Stewardson established the firm in 1885, and were jo ...
was an early and important exponent, transforming the campuses of Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
, Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
and the University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in the 1890s. In 1872, Abner Jackson
Abner Jackson (4 November 1811 in Washington, Pennsylvania - 19 April 1874) was an American minister and teacher and President of Hobart College in Geneva, New York from 1858 to 1867 and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut from 1867 until his ...
, the President of Trinity College, Connecticut
Trinity College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded as Washington College in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut.
Coed ...
, visited Britain, seeking models and an architect for a planned new campus for the college. William Burges was chosen and he drew up a four-quadrangled masterplan, in his Early French style. Lavish illustrations were produced by Axel Haig
Axel Herman Haig ( sv, Axel Herman Hägg); (10 November 1835 –August 23, 1921) was a Swedish-born artist, illustrator and architect. His paintings, illustrations and etchings, undertaken for himself and on behalf of many of the foremost architect ...
. However, the estimated cost, at just under one million dollars, together with the sheer scale of the plans, thoroughly alarmed the College Trustees and only one-sixth of the plan was executed, the present Long Walk, with Francis H. Kimball
Francis Hatch Kimball (September 24, 1845 – December 20, 1919) was an American architect practicing in New York City, best known for his work on skyscrapers in lower Manhattan and terra-cotta ornamentation. He was an associate with the firm ...
acting as local, supervising, architect, and Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
laying out the grounds. Hitchcock considers the result, "perhaps the most satisfactory of all of urges'sworks and the best example anywhere of Victorian Gothic collegiate architecture".
The movement continued into the 20th century, with Cope & Stewardson's campus for Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
(1900–09), Charles Donagh Maginnis
Charles Donagh Maginnis (January 7, 1867 – February 15, 1955) was an Irish-American architect. He emigrated to Boston at age 18, trained as an architect and went on to form the firm Maginnis & Walsh, designing ecclesiastical and campus building ...
's buildings at Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
(1910s) (including Gasson Hall
Gasson Hall is a building on the campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Designed by Charles Donagh Maginnis in 1908, the hall has influenced the development of Collegiate Gothic architecture in North America. Gasson Hall is ...
), Ralph Adams Cram
Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942) was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival style. Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partner ...
's design for the Princeton University Graduate College
The Graduate College at Princeton University is a residential college which serves as the center of graduate student life at Princeton. Wyman House, adjacent to the Graduate College, serves as the official residence of the current Dean of the Gr ...
(1913), and James Gamble Rogers
James Gamble Rogers (March 3, 1867 – October 1, 1947) was an American architect. A proponent of what came to be known as Collegiate Gothic architecture, he is best known for his academic commissions at Yale University, Columbia Univer ...
' reconstruction of the campus of Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
(1920s). Charles Klauder
Charles Zeller Klauder (February 9, 1872 – October 30, 1938) was an American architect best known for his work on university buildings and campus designs, especially his Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, the first educat ...
's Gothic Revival skyscraper on the University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
's campus, the Cathedral of Learning
The Cathedral of Learning is a 42-story skyscraper that serves as the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's (Pitt) main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Standing at , the 42-story Late Gothic Revival Cath ...
(1926) exhibited very Gothic stylings both inside and out, while utilizing modern technologies to make the building taller.
Vernacular adaptations and the revival in the Antipodes
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...
houses and small churches became common in North America and other places in the late 19th century. These structures adapted Gothic elements such as pointed arches, steep gables, and towers to traditional American light-frame construction
Framing, in construction, is the fitting together of pieces to give a structure support and shape. Framing materials are usually wood, engineered wood, or structural steel. The alternative to framed construction is generally called ''mass wal ...
. The invention of the scroll saw
A scroll saw is a small electric or pedal-operated saw used to cut intricate curves in wood, metal, or other materials. The fineness of its blade allows it to cut more delicately than a power jigsaw, and more easily than a hand coping saw or fr ...
and mass-produced wood moldings allowed a few of these structures to mimic the florid fenestration
Fenestration may refer to:
* Fenestration (architecture), the design, construction, or presence of openings in a building
* Used in relation to fenestra in anatomy, medicine and biology
* Fenestration, holes in the rudder of a ship to reduce the w ...
of the High Gothic. But, in most cases, Carpenter Gothic buildings were relatively unadorned, retaining only the basic elements of pointed-arch windows and steep gables. A well-known example of Carpenter Gothic is a house in Eldon, Iowa
Eldon is a city in Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 783 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the site of the small Carpenter Gothic style house that has come to be known as the ''American Gothic'' House. Artist Grant Wo ...
, that Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891 February 12, 1942) was an American painter and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for '' American Gothic'' (193 ...
used for the background of his painting American Gothic
''American Gothic'' is a 1930 painting by Grant Wood in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood was inspired to paint what is now known as the ''American Gothic'' House in Eldon, Iowa, along with "the kind of people efancied shoul ...
.
New Zealand and Australia
Benjamin Mountfort
Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort (13 March 1825 – 15 March 1898) was an English emigrant to New Zealand, where he became one of the country's most prominent 19th-century architects. He was instrumental in shaping the city of Christchurch's unique ...
, born in Britain, trained in Birmingham, and subsequently resident in Canterbury, New Zealand
Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of
The region in its current f ...
imported the Gothic Revival style to his adopted country and designed Gothic Revival churches in both wood and stone, notably in Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
. Frederick Thatcher
The Reverend Frederick Thatcher (1814 – 19 October 1890) was an English and New Zealand architect and clergyman.
He was born at Hastings to a long-established Sussex family. He practised as an architect in London from 1835 and was one of the ...
designed wooden churches in the Gothic Revival style, for example Old St. Paul's, Wellington
Old St Paul's (formerly St Paul's Pro-Cathedral) is a historic site, a city landmark (tourist attraction) and a wedding and event venue in the heart of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. The building served a dual role as the parish c ...
, contributing to what has been described as New Zealand's "one memorable contribution to world architecture". St Mary of the Angels, Wellington
St Mary of the Angels is a Catholic church on the corner of Boulcott Street and O'Reily Avenue in Wellington, New Zealand. It is the parish church for Wellington Central and one of the major churches of the city. The Marist Fathers have provided ...
by Frederick de Jersey Clere
Frederick de Jersey Clere (7 January 1856 – 13 August 1952) was an architect in Wellington, New Zealand.
Biography
He was born in Walsden, near Todmorden, Lancashire and trained as an architect before emigrating to New Zealand with his family ...
is in the French Gothic style, and was the first Gothic design church built in ferro-concrete. The style also found favour in the southern New Zealand city of Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
, where the wealth brought in by the Otago Gold Rush
The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...
of the 1860s allowed for substantial stone edifices to be constructed, using hard, dark breccia
Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix.
The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of di ...
stone and a local white limestone, Oamaru stone
Oamaru stone, sometimes called whitestone, is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand.
Oamaru stone was used on many of the grand public buildings in the towns and cities of the southern South Island, es ...
, among them Maxwell Bury
Maxwell Bury (28 July 1825 – 9 September 1912) was an English-born architect who was active in New Zealand in the 19th century. He is best remembered for his buildings for the University of Otago.
Life
Born in Nottinghamshire on 28 July 1825, ...
's University of Otago Registry Building
The University of Otago Registry Building, also known as the Clocktower Building, is a Victorian and later structure in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. It stands next to the banks of the Water of Leith and is constructed from contrasting dark ...
and the Dunedin Law Courts
The Dunedin Law Courts is a notable historic building in central Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. They are located at the corner of Lower Stuart Street and Anzac Square, directly opposite the city's historic railway station. Since 1 ...
by John Campbell.
Australia, in particular in Melbourne and Sydney, saw the construction of large numbers of Gothic Revival buildings. William Wardell
William Wilkinson Wardell (1823–1899) was a civil engineer and architect, notable not only for his work in Australia, the country to which he emigrated in 1858, but for a successful career as a surveyor and ecclesiastical architect in En ...
(1823–1899) was among the country's most prolific architects; born and trained in England, after emigrating his most notable Australian designs include St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
The Cathedral Church and Minor Basilica of Saint Patrick (colloquially St Patrick's Cathedral) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Peter Comensoli. ...
and St John's College and St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. In common with many other 19th century architects, Wardell could deploy different styles at the command of his clients; Government House, Melbourne
Government House is the official residence of the governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. It is located in Kings Domain, Melbourne, next to the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Government House was opened in 1876, on land that had originally been ...
is Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
. His banking house for the English, Scottish and Australian Bank
The English, Scottish & Australian Bank Limited was an Australian bank founded in 1852 by Royal Charter in London and named English, Scottish and Australian Chartered Bank. Following a financial reconstruction in 1893 its business was renamed ...
in Melbourne has been described as "the Australian masterpiece of neo-Gothic". This claim has also been made for Edmund Blacket
Edmund Thomas Blacket (25 August 1817 – 9 February 1883) was an Australian architect, best known for his designs for the University of Sydney, St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney and St. Saviour's Cathedral, Goulburn.
Arriving in Sydney from Engl ...
's MacLaurin Hall at the University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, which sits in the quadrangle complex described as "arguably the most important group of Gothic and Tudor Revival style architecture in Australia".
Global Gothic
Henry-Russell Hitchcock
Henry-Russell Hitchcock (1903–1987) was an American architectural historian, and for many years a professor at Smith College and New York University. His writings helped to define the characteristics of modernist architecture.
Early life
He ...
, the architectural historian, noted the spread of the Gothic Revival in the 19th and early 20th centuries, "wherever English culture extended – as far as the West Coast of the United States and to the remotest Antipodes". The British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, almost at its geographic peak at the height of the Gothic Revival, assisted or compelled this spread. The English-speaking dominions
The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire.
"Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, Dominion of New Zealand, New Zealand, Dominion of Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Un ...
, Canada, Australia particularly the state of Victoria and New Zealand generally adopted British styles in toto (see above); other parts of the empire saw regional adaptations. India saw the construction of many such buildings, in styles termed Indo-Saracenic
Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...
or Hindu-Gothic. Notable examples include Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Bombay station code: CSMT ( mainline)/ST (suburban)), is a historic railway terminus and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
The terminus was d ...
(formerly Victoria Terminus) and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel
The Taj Mahal Palace is a heritage, five-star, luxury hotel in the Colaba area of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, situated next to the Gateway of India. Built in the Saracenic Revival style, it opened in 1903 as the Taj Mahal Hotel and has histor ...
, both in Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. At the hill station of Shimla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...
, the summer capital
A summer capital is a city used as an administrative capital during extended periods of particularly hot summer weather. The term is mostly of relevance in historical contexts of political systems with ruling classes that would migrate to a summe ...
of British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, an attempt was made to recreate the Home counties
The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often inc ...
in the foothills of the Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
. Although Gothic Revival was the predominant architectural style, alternatives were also deployed; Rashtrapati Niwas
The Rashtrapati Niwas (), formerly known as Viceregal Lodge, is located on the Observatory Hills of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. It was formerly the residence of the British Viceroy of India. It houses some of the most ancient articles and ...
, the former Viceregal Lodge, has been variously described as Scottish Baronial Revival, Tudor Revival
Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
and Jacobethan
The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...
.
Other examples in the east include the late 19th century Church of the Saviour, Beijing
The Church of the Saviour ( zh, t=救世主堂, s=救世主堂), also known as the Xishiku Church ( zh, t=西什庫天主堂, s=西什库天主堂) or Beitang ( zh, t=北堂, s=北堂, l=the North Church, links=no), is a historic Roman Catholic c ...
, constructed on the orders of the Guangxu Emperor
The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, wi ...
and designed by the Catholic missionary and architect Alphonse Favier
Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier-Duperron C.M.(Chinese: 樊國樑 Pinyin:''Fan Guoliang'' Wade-Giles: ''Fan Kouo-Léang'') (born 22 September 1837 at Marsannay-la-Côte, France; died 4 April 1905 in Beijing) was the Roman Catholic, Catholic (Chines ...
; and the Wat Niwet Thammaprawat
Wat Niwet Thammaprawat Ratchaworawihan ( th, วัดนิเวศธรรมประวัติราชวรวิหาร) is a Buddhist temple (''wat'') of the Dhammayut Order, located within the grounds of the Bang Pa-In Royal Palace ...
in the Bang Pa-In Royal Palace
)
, former_names =
, alternate_names =
, image = Bang Pa-In Royal Palace - Bang Pa-In.jpg
, image_alt =
, caption = Aisawan Dhiphya-Asana Pavilion
, map_type = Thailand
, map_alt ...
in Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
, by the Italian Joachim Grassi. In Indonesia, (the former colony of the Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
), the Jakarta Cathedral
Jakarta Cathedral ( id, Gereja Katedral Jakarta, nl, Kathedraal van Jakarta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jakarta, Indonesia, which is also the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Jakarta, currently Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatm ...
was begun in 1891 and completed in 1901 by Dutch architect Antonius Dijkmans; while further north in the islands of the Philippines, the San Sebastian Church, designed by architects Genaro Palacios and Gustave Eiffel
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (born Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; ; ; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway ...
, was consecrated in 1891 in the still Spanish colony. Church building in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
was extensive, with little or no effort to adopt vernacular forms. Robert Gray, the first bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, wrote; "I am sure we do not overestimate the importance of real Churches built after the fashion of our English churches". He oversaw the construction of some fifty such buildings between 1848 and his death in 1872. South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
saw a later flourishing of the Revival, particularly in church architecture, for example the Metropolitan Cathedral of São Paulo in Brazil by the German Maximilian Emil Hehl
Maximilian Emil Hehl (born September 17, 1861, in Kassel – August 27, 1916 in São Paulo) was a German engineer and architect active in Brazil.
Son of Johannes Hehl, director of the Kassel Polytechnic College, and Carolin Wolff Hehl, he s ...
, and the Cathedral of La Plata
:''To be distinguished from the Cathedral of Sucre, Bolivia, formerly La Plata''
The Cathedral of La Plata in La Plata, Argentina, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, is the 58th List of tallest churches in the world, tallest church in the wor ...
in Argentina.
20th and 21st centuries
The Gothic style dictated the use of structural members in compression
Compression may refer to:
Physical science
*Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces
*Compression member, a structural element such as a column
*Compressibility, susceptibility to compression
*Gas compression
*Compression ratio, of a c ...
, leading to tall, buttressed buildings with interior columns of load-bearing A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a foundation structure below it.
Load-bearing walls are one of the ea ...
masonry and tall, narrow windows. But, by the start of the 20th century, technological developments such as the steel frame
Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The developm ...
, the incandescent light bulb
An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxida ...
and the elevator
An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
made this approach obsolete. Steel framing supplanted the non-ornamental functions of rib vault
A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic ...
s and flying buttresses
The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...
, providing wider open interiors with fewer columns interrupting the view.
Some architects persisted in using Neo-Gothic tracery as applied ornamentation to an iron skeleton underneath, for example in Cass Gilbert
Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and We ...
's 1913 Woolworth Building
The Woolworth Building is an early skyscraper, early American skyscraper designed by architect Cass Gilbert located at 233 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was the tallest building in ...
skyscraper in New York and Raymond Hood
Raymond Mathewson Hood (March 29, 1881 – August 14, 1934) was an American architect who worked in the Neo-Gothic and Art Deco styles. He is best known for his designs of the Tribune Tower, American Radiator Building, and Rockefeller Center. Thr ...
's 1922 Tribune Tower
The Tribune Tower is a , 36-floor neo-Gothic skyscraper located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Built between 1923 and 1925, the international design competition for the tower became a historic event in 20th-cen ...
in Chicago. The Tower Life Building in San Antonio, completed in 1929, is noted for the arrays of decorative gargoyles on its upper floors. But, over the first half of the century, Neo-Gothic was supplanted by Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
, although some modernist architects saw the Gothic tradition of architectural form entirely in terms of the "honest expression" of the technology of the day, and saw themselves as heirs to that tradition, with their use of rectangular frames and exposed iron girders.
In spite of this, the Gothic Revival continued to exert its influence, simply because many of its more massive projects were still being built well into the second half of the 20th century, such as Giles Gilbert Scott
Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (9 November 1880 – 8 February 1960) was a British architect known for his work on the New Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Battersea Power Station, Liverpool Cathedral, and d ...
's Liverpool Cathedral
Liverpool Cathedral is the Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool, and the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. It may be referred to as the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool (as recorded in the ...
and the Washington National Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...
(1907–1990). Ralph Adams Cram
Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942) was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival style. Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partner ...
became a leading force in American Gothic, with his most ambitious project the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York (claimed to be the largest cathedral in the world), as well as Collegiate Gothic buildings at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. Cram said "the style hewn out and perfected by our ancestors asbecome ours by uncontested inheritance".
Though the number of new Gothic Revival buildings declined sharply after the 1930s, they continue to be built. St Edmundsbury Cathedral
St Edmundsbury Cathedral (formally entitled the Cathedral Church of St James and St Edmund) is the cathedral for the Church of England's Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is the seat of the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and is in ...
, the cathedral of Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...
in Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, was expanded and reconstructed in a neo-Gothic style between the late 1950s and 2005, and a commanding stone central tower was added. A new church in the Gothic style is planned for St. John Vianney Parish in Fishers, Indiana
Fishers is a city in Fall Creek and Delaware townships, Hamilton County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 76,794, and by 2019 the estimated population was 95,310. A suburb of Indianapolis, Fishers has grown rapidl ...
. The Whittle Building at Peterhouse
Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...
, University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, opened in 2016, matches the neo-Gothic style of the rest of the courtyard in which it is situated.
Gothic Revival in other decorative arts
Besides architecture, the Gothic Revival also manifested in furniture, metalworks, ceramics and other decorative arts during the 19th century. In France, it was the first reaction against the hegemony of Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...
. During the Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
(1814–1830) and the Louis-Philippe
Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate List of French monarchs#House of Orléans, July Monarchy (1830–1848), monarch of France.
As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, h ...
period (1830-1848), Gothic Revival motifs start to appear in France, together with revivals of the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
and of Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
. During these two periods, the vogue for medieval things led craftsmen to adopt Gothic decorative motifs in their work, such as bell turrets, lancet arches, trefoil
A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with four rin ...
s, Gothic tracery and rose window
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...
s. This style was also as "Cathedral style" ("À la catédrale").
Appreciation
By 1872, the Gothic Revival was mature enough in the United Kingdom that Charles Locke Eastlake
Charles Locke Eastlake (11 March 1836 – 20 November 1906) was a British architect and furniture designer.
His uncle, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake PRA (born in 1793), was a Keeper of the National Gallery, from 1843 to 1847, and from 1855 its fi ...
, an influential professor of design, could produce ''A History of the Gothic Revival''. Kenneth Clark's, ''The Gothic Revival. An Essay'', followed in 1928, in which he described the Revival as "the most widespread and influential artistic movement which England has ever produced." The architect and writer Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel
Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel (1887 in Cambridge – 21 June 1959 in Westminster, London) was a British architect, writer and musician.
Life
Harry Stuart Goodhart was born on 29 May 1887 in Cambridge, England. He added the additional name Rende ...
covered the subject of the Revival in an appreciative way in his Slade Lectures in 1934. But the conventional early 20th century view of the architecture of the Gothic Revival was strongly dismissive, critics writing of "the nineteenth century architectural tragedy", ridiculing "the uncompromising ugliness" of the era's buildings and attacking the "sadistic hatred of beauty" of its architects. The 1950s saw further signs of a recovery in the reputation of Revival architecture. John Steegman's study, ''Consort of Taste'' (re-issued in 1970 as ''Victorian Taste'', with a foreword by Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
), was published in 1950 and began a slow turn in the tide of opinion "towards a more serious and sympathetic assessment." In 1958, Henry-Russell Hitchcock published his ''Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'', as part of the Pelican History of Art
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Victorian Society
The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...]
in England and, in 1963, the publication of ''Victorian Architecture'', an influential collection of essays edited by Peter Ferriday. By 2008, the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Victorian Society, the architecture of the Gothic Revival was more fully appreciated with some of its leading architects receiving scholarly attention and some of its best buildings, such as George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
's St Pancras Station Hotel, being magnificently restored. The Society's 50th anniversary publication, ''Saving A Century'', surveyed a half-century of losses and successes, reflected on the changing perceptions toward Victorian architecture and concluded with a chapter entitled “The Victorians Victorious”.
Gallery
Europe
File:Schwerin Castle Aerial View Island Luftbild Schweriner Schloss Insel See (cropped).jpg, Schwerin Castle
Schwerin Castle (also known as ''Schwerin Palace'', german: Schweriner Schloss, ), is a schloss located in the city of Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state, Germany. It is situated on an island in the city's main lake, Lake Schwer ...
, Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch dialect, Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germany, second-largest city of the northeastern States of Germany, German ...
, Germany (1845–1857)
File:Schloss Schadau am Thunersee.jpg, Schadau Castle, Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thoune) ...
, Switzerland (1846–1854)
File:Wroclaw Glowny train station 05.jpg, Wrocław Główny railway station
Wrocław Główny is the largest and most important passenger train station in the city of Wrocław, in southwestern Poland. Situated at the junction of several important routes, it is the largest railway station in the Lower Silesia Voivodeship, ...
, Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
, Poland (1855–1857)
File:Neues Rathaus München 2018.jpg, New Town Hall, Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, Germany (1867–1905)
File:St Pancras Railway Station 2012-06-23.jpg, St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...
, London, England (1868)
File:Manchester Town Hall from Lloyd St.jpg, Town Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
, Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England (1868–1877)
File:Wien Rathaus hochauflösend.jpg, City Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
, Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria (1872–1883)
File:Castelul Sturdza din Miclăușeni.jpg, Sturdza Palace
The Sturdza Palace at Miclăușeni or Sturdza Castle at Miclăușeni ( ro, Castelul Sturdza de la Miclăușeni) is a historic monument in the village of Miclăușeni, at a distance of from Roman and from the city of Iași. Currently, it is par ...
, Iași County
Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a coun ...
, Romania (1880-1904)
File:Parliament Building (Budapest, Hungary).jpg, Hungarian Parliament Building
The Hungarian Parliament Building ( hu, Országház , which translates to "House of the Country" or "House of the Nation"), also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable l ...
, Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Hungary (1885–1904)
File:Tower Bridge seen from the south bank.jpg, Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule and Suspended-deck suspension bridge, suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones (architect), Horace Jones and e ...
, London, England (1886–1894)
File:EstacaoRossioLisboa.JPG, The Neo-Manueline
Neo-Manueline is a revival style of architecture which drew from the 16th century Manueline Late Gothic architecture of Portugal. Neo-Manueline constructions have been built across Portugal, Brazil, and the Lusophone world (the former Portuguese ...
(Portuguese Late Gothic) Rossio Station, Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Portugal (1891)
File:Konkatedrala sv. Petra i Pavla Osijek.jpg, Co-cathedral, Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
, Croatia (1898)
File:Moscow Immaculate Conception Church asv2019-06 img1.jpg, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Russia (1901–1911), an example of Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic (german: Backsteingotik, pl, Gotyk ceglany, nl, Baksteengotiek) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resourc ...
revival
North America
File:Church Of Our Lady Immaculate in Guelph, Ontario.jpg, Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate
Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and parish church in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. A Gothic Revival style building constructed between 1876 and 1888 by architect Joseph Connolly, it is considered Co ...
, Guelph, Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada
File:Santa Ana Catedral Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana 2.jpg, Cathedral of Santa Ana (El Salvador)
File:Fachada del Templo Expiatorio del Santísimo Sacramento, Guadalajara 13.JPG, Templo Expiatorio del Santísimo Sacramento Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
File:Princeton (6035183309).jpg, Rockefeller College, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
File:St Patrick's Cathedral - New York City.jpg, St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan), St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, USA
File:Parlement du Canada - Edifice du Centre - 004.jpg, Centre Block of the Canadian Parliament Buildings, Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Ontario
South America
File:Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Lujan.jpg, Basilica of Our Lady of Luján, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
File:Catedral Metropolitana de Sao Paulo 4 Brasil.jpg, The São Paulo Cathedral, São Paulo Metropolitan Cathedral, São Paulo, Brazil
File:Petropolis-Cathedral6.jpg, Cathedral of Petrópolis, Cathedral of São Pedro de Alcântara, Petrópolis, Brazil
File:Fachada Basílica del Salvador.JPG, Basilica del Salvador, in Santiago, Chile
File:Santuario de Las Lajas, Ipiales, Colombia, 2015-07-21, DD 21-23 HDR.jpg, The Las Lajas Sanctuary in southern Colombia
File:Capilla cristo-pobre.jpg, Capilla Cristo Pobre, in Jauja, Peru
Australia and New Zealand
File:St. Paul's Cathedral Tower.jpg, St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, Australia
File:St Patrick's Cathedral (Gothic Revival Style).jpg, St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
The Cathedral Church and Minor Basilica of Saint Patrick (colloquially St Patrick's Cathedral) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Peter Comensoli. ...
, Australia
File:Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo November 2011.JPG, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo, Australia
File:StMarysSydneyCathedral1.jpg, St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
File:ChristChurchCathedral1 gobeirne.jpg, Christchurch Cathedral, Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
, New Zealand
File:Otago Boys High School.jpg, Otago Boys High School, Otago, New Zealand
Asia
File:Baku kirkha.jpg, Church of the Saviour, Baku, Church of the Saviour, Baku, Azerbaijan
File:Puducherry Sacred Heart Cathedral 2.JPG, Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pondicherry, Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pondicherry, India
File:Katedral Jakarta 2016 Bennylin 01.jpg, Jakarta Cathedral
Jakarta Cathedral ( id, Gereja Katedral Jakarta, nl, Kathedraal van Jakarta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Jakarta, Indonesia, which is also the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Jakarta, currently Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatm ...
, Indonesia
File:Basilica of San Sebastian, Manila, Philippines - panoramio.jpg, San Sebastian Church (Manila), Basílica Menor de San Sebastián, Manila, Philippines
File:Sacred heart cathedral of guangzhou.jpg, Sacred Heart Cathedral (Guangzhou), Sacred Heart Cathedral, Guangzhou, China
File:Government College University, Lahore - Clock tower and main building.jpg, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan
Decorative arts
Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory - Cup and Saucer - 1998.412 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif, Cup and saucer; by Pierre Huard; 1827; Cleveland Museum of Art
Vase (vase gothique Fragonard) (one of a pair) MET DP169251.jpg, Pair of vases; manufactured 1832, decorated 1844; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Armchair MET DT3866.jpg, Armchair; 1850; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Desk MET DT257587.jpg, Desk; 1877; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Footnotes
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Further reading
* Christian Amalvi, ''Le Goût du moyen âge'', (Paris: Plon), 1996. The first French monograph on French Gothic Revival.
* ''"Le Gothique retrouvé" avant Viollet-le-Duc.'' Exhibition, 1979. The first French exhibition concerned with French Neo-Gothic.
* Hunter-Stiebel, Penelope, ''Of knights and spires: Gothic revival in France and Germany'', 1989.
* Phoebe B Stanton, ''Pugin'' (New York, Viking Press 1972, ©1971).
*John Summerson, Summerson, Sir John, 1948. "Viollet-le-Duc and the rational point of view" collected in ''Heavenly Mansions and other essays on Architecture''
* Thomas Graham Jackson, Sir Thomas G. Jackson, ''Modern Gothic Architecture'' (1873), ''Byzantine and Romanesque Architecture'' (1913), and three-volume ''Gothic Architecture in France, England and Italy'' (1901)
See also
Sub-varieties of the Gothic Revival style
Locale
External links
Basilique Sainte-Clotilde, Paris
Canada by Design: Parliament Hill, Ottawa
at Library and Archives Canada
Proyecto Documenta's entries for neo-Gothic elements at the Valparaíso's churches
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gothic Revival Architecture
Gothic Revival architecture,
American architectural styles
Architectural styles
British architectural styles
Revival architectural styles
Victorian architectural styles