The Gothic Revolution

Nineteenth-Century Revivals In mid-century, a dramatic shift away from styles from antiquity; Style related to tumultuous times. Emergence of “Picturesque”: Creating or composing a picture of an idyllic, natural lifestyle; A direct contrast to the formality, symmetry, and rigidity of the Roman, Greek, and Georgian styles. Emergence of Romanticism

What is Romanticism? An emotional reaction against classicism A retreat from reality Evoking pasts for their associations Emphasis on religion

New genre of literature

Age of Industrialism New technologies are emerging that revolutionize building construction. – Machine milled lumber – Wire nails – Cast iron and steel architectural elements Industrialism—Growth of cities and new jobs. Start seeing a middle class. Birth of the “suburb” New interior spaces—library, kitchen, bathroom. Porch increases in size and importance.

Gothic Revival ca Embodied tenants of picturesque and romantic in antebellum America Initial impulse was in religious buildings – Shift from using gothick details as decorative diversity to reference to use of specific gothic buildings as precedents. – Liturgical shift stimulated by the ecclesiological movement in England. Architects, landscape, and texts. Andrew Jacking Davis, Andrew Jackson Downing, Richard Upjohn, James Renwick Jr. Technological changes for houses – Balloon frame

Balloon Frame Lancet window opening

Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening Adapted for North America, 1841, A. J. Downing

Roof a. Steeply pitched b. Bargeboard (Vergeboard) c. Pinnacle with crockets. Crocket: a decorative hook-like spur of stone carved in various leaf shapes d. Projecting towers with crenellation e. Ridge with cresting— ironwork decorations along the ridge vergeboard cresting crocket

Walls Walls have a variety of materials and finish. Surfaces are usually smooth, but may be stone, brick, or stucco finish. Frame building often use board and batten Larger building support the walls with buttresses between the windows and at the corners. Compound Arch. An arch with a multi-layered archivolt that recedes from the face of the wall. Compound archCorner buttress

Windows a. Wheel windows b. Oriel windows c. Hood mold: a projecting molding to throw off the rain, on the face of a wall, above an arch, doorway, or window. Quatrefoil, or trefoil porch trim a. Foil: a lobe or leaf-shaped curve formed by the cusping of a circle or an arch. The number of foils involved is indicated by a prefix. Thus, cinquefoil = 5, quatrefoil = 4, trefoil = 3.

Tracery; Quatrefoil; Label Mold Label Mold

Eastern State Penitentiary Philadelphia, Pa., c John Haviland - architect

Lyndhurst Tarrytown, NY, c1838 Andrew Jackson Davis - architect

Lyndhurst Tarrytown, NY, c

Lyndhurst (servants home) Tarrytown, NY, c1838

Trinity Church New York, c1844 Richard Upjohn- architect (281 ft steeple)

St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral Buffalo, NY, c Buttress

St. Luke’s Clermont, New York, c1857

Gethsemane Lutheran Church Austin, Tex., c1882

Kingscote Newport, RI c1841

Kingscote Newport, RI, c1841

Bowen House Woodstock, CT, c1846

Romanesque Revival, Monochromatic brick or stone Semicircular arch for windows, doors, and other parts of façade Flanking towers Corbel table along edge of roof line Corbel table

Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC, James Renwick Jr

First Presbyterian Galveston, Tex., 1873

St. George’s Fredericksburg, Va., 1848 Robert Cary Long Jr. Architect

Providence and Worcester Railroad, Freight House, Providence, RI,