GOTHIC REVIVAL
By the mid 1840’s many people in the United States began to criticize the Greek style of architecture. A home should look like a home, they felt, and with the Greek Revival style one could not tell if the structure was a home, bank, court house, church or college. This period was a time of political change and technological advance in the United States from which emerged a rising middle class and an increased aristocracy. These changes and advances were reflected in a change in architectural style, both public and domestic, from Greek Revival to Gothic Revival. By 1845 the Gothic style was nearly as well established as the Greek style had been twenty years earlier, and by the outbreak of the Civil War Gothic had replaced Greek as the predominant style of architecture in the United States.
Trinity Church, on the Green, New Haven, Conn.—Built by Ithiel Town in 1817 (added to in 1845) Trinity Church, on the Green, is one of the oldest Gothic Churches in the United States.
(figure available in print form)
One of the most important trends affecting art, literature and ultimately architecture was the Romantic Movement. The growing love of the long age and far away was largely fostered by the writings of Scott, Irving, Hawthorne and Longfellow. While nineteenth century American was making great strides in science, industry and social reform, architects were trying to recapture the romance of Medieval society. The world described in the writings of the Romantic Movement was one of chivalry and valor amid castles, knights in shining armor and fair maidens in distress. Americans saw a relationship between the heroes glorified in these novels and their own national heroes.
The medieval castle came through very clearly in the writings of Sir Walter Scott. He even built for himself a Gothic castle, called Abbotsford, setting a trend in England that spread rapidly to the United States. The American writer James Fenimore Cooper upon returning from a visit to Abbotsford in the early 1830’s remodeled his home at Cooperstown, New York into a Gothic castle. This style became so popular that the fashion became one of “modernizing” already existing homes, as Cooper had done, by applying Gothic designs to the structure.
(figure available in print form)
Illustration from:
Waverly Novels
, Sir Walter Scott. New York, Collier Press, 1842.
Gothic Revival won wide spread acceptance and was endorsed by the leading architects, Andrew Jackson Downing and Alexander Jackson Davis. Downing was the most influential critic of his time and Davis was the country’s most prolific Gothic Revival architect. Together these men became the trend setters and largely determined the direction of architecture between 1830 and 1870. The association of Davis and Downing resulted in many architectural handbooks and builder’s manuals. Davis’ plans were widely publicized in books by Downing such as
Rural Residences
published in 1837 and
Cottage Residences
published in 1842. These books contained not only hand colored lithographs of homes but descriptions, plans, estimates of the cost, summary of materials needed and the layout of the grounds and gardens. In his writings Downing set forth his philosophy of the “ideal” American way of life.
There were only a few full-blown Gothic stone mansions built in the United States. Of those that were built most have been torn down. One excellent example remains, Lyndhurst at Terrytown, New York built by Davis in 1834 for William Paulding. With the help of industrialization and mass production the costly stone Gothic structures were translated into wood, making the “Carpenter Gothic” affordable for many middle class American families. Downing believed a home expressed the personality of its owners, “ fine man or woman built a fine home”, he stated in
The Architecture of a Country Home
published in 1850. He felt that a typical dwelling should be a frame house with a veranda, beautiful lawn and garden. “When smiling lawns and tasteful cottages begin to embellish a country, we know that order and culture are established”, he further stated. Downing emphasized that the difference between Europeans and Americans was that Americans by working could obtain one of the goals of life a “house beautiful”.
To introduce the American people to new developments in art and architecture the United States held an international exposition in New York in 1853. The characteristic American home of Victorian design, “American Gothic”, was introduced as affordable to all Americans. Many forms of Gothic architecture can be seen in New Haven today, in both public and private buildings. Two excellent examples of public architecture are the Yale School of Art, now Street Hall and the New Haven City Hall.