Gothic Revival

History Of Architecture
Even Semester 2022

AR1951 - Ronak Parakh, AR1981 - Suhani Shah,

AR1970 - Akshat Ratadia, AR1987 - Dhruv Tapadia,
AR1976 - Hetvi Shah, AR1990 - Deep Umretiya
AR1979 - Palash Shah,

St. Patrick's Cathedral, New
York City, designed by James
Renwick.
What is Gothic Revival?
Gothic Revival 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, intending to complement or even supersede the neoclassical styles
prevalent at the time.
The Gothic Revival style is part of the mid-19th century picturesque and romantic movement
in architecture, reflecting the public's taste for buildings inspired by medieval design. This
was a real departure from the previously popular styles that drew inspiration from the
classical forms of ancient Greece and Rome.
Though the style traces back to the eighteenth century, it did not flourish until the nineteenth
century, when its popularity in England spread throughout the British Empire. The style made
its way across the pond to North America, giving rise to the American Gothic style of
architecture for mansions, country houses, universities, and public buildings.
What is Gothic Revival?
Some critics believe there was a kind of nostalgia for an enchanted, less rational world that
was linked to the perceived superstitions of medieval Catholicism.

In England, the center of the Gothic revival, the movement was intertwined with
philosophical trends associated with a reawakening of Christian traditions in response to the
growth of religious nonconformism. Ultimately, the Gothic style became widespread in the
third quarter of the 19th century.

While the Neoclassical style of the 18th century was associated with “radical” and liberal
perspectives, the Gothic Revival was associated with “traditional” sensibilities, such as
conservatism and the monarchy. As industrialization progressed, there was an increasing
reaction against the use of machinery and factory production. Supporters of medievalism
criticized industrial society, believing the pre-industrial model to be a golden age.
 Brief History
● Gothic architecture was invented during the Middle Ages, when architects began to
craft churches and synagogues as large, ornate buildings to reflect the magnitude of
God and the humble nature of humanity.
● French beginnings: The first building credited as Gothic architecture was the Abbey
Church of Saint-Denis in France, built between the eleventh and twelfth century. Its
massive arches, stained glass windows, and elaborate floor plans that allowed for
buildings of exceptional height would go on to serve as templates for religious
buildings and secular structures, like palaces, castles, and fortresses, throughout the
medieval era. Gothic medieval styles fell out of favor with the dawn of the
Renaissance.
● Revival via Germany: The first stirrings of the Gothic Revival came with the
Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk in eighteenth-century rise of Romanticism, which was a pushback against the oncoming
Ostend (Belgium), built between Industrial Revolution and its focus on science and progress. The country home of
1899 and 1908 author Horace Walpole, Strawberry Hill, gave elaborate Gothic elements an
impressive showcase.
 Brief History

● New styles flourish: By the nineteenth century, Gothic Revival had become a popular
architectural form for public buildings like the Palace of Westminster, the meeting
place for the Houses of Parliament in England. Architects Sir Charles Barry and A.W.N.
Pugin outfitted the tower with numerous Gothic details, such as stone, towers, and
pointed arches. By the mid-nineteenth century, Gothic Revival architecture had
spread from England to other parts of the British Empire, including Canada, India, and
Australia, but found a particularly warm reception in the United States.
● American Gothic: The first Gothic public building in America was Trinity Church in
New Haven, Connecticut, in 1812. Gothic Revival soon became the chosen style for
many colleges and universities, including Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Gothic Revival
homes also began to flourish during this period thanks to the writings of architect
The Tribune Tower (1925),
Alexander Jackson Davis and designer Andrew Jackson Downing.
Chicago, an example of Gothic
Revival architecture.
 Common Features of Gothic
Revival Architecture

● Castle design: Many early Gothic Revival houses and churches carried over elements
from medieval Gothic design for castles. These elements included towers, parapets, a
low wall that juts out from a terrace or roof, and battlements, a parapet with open
spaces.

● Sprawling floor plans: Gothic Revival houses drew on the sprawling floor plans of
medieval Gothic buildings, which were adapted from the irregular layout of basilicas.
American Gothic floor plans, in particular, favored asymmetrical, L-shaped floor plans.
Common Features of Gothic Revival Architecture
● Pitched roofs: A steep, pitched gable roof connected the
Gothic Revival design to the arches of medieval Gothic
origins. Carpenter Gothic style often emphasized the arch
with roof gables and delicate wooden bargeboards, also
known as vergeboards or gingerbread trim, or ornamental
stylings like finials, a decorative ornament that serves as
the top or end piece of an element.

● Window design: The large windows in Gothic Revival

houses and buildings also echoed the pointed arch design.
Homes may also feature windows with the clover-like
quatrefoil pattern, or oriel windows, a Bay window style
held over from medieval Gothic design.
Elements Gothic Architecture Gothic Revival
Architecture

Plan Latin Cross Plans No more religious

with shorter transepts influence. Plans are
and aisled naves. geometric.

Columns Use of classical Influenced from

orders in the columns classical order but
with fluted or floral smooth, plain shafts.
shafts and square
base.

Towers Regular towers were Instead of tall, colonial

very ornamental with towers, turrets with
small figurines and bastion walls were
stained glass used with flat tops.
windows.
Elements Gothic Architecture Gothic Revival
Architecture

Facade More decorative and Less decorative and

elaborately carved. mainly plain facade.
More niches and No moulding and
sculpture mounted on sculptures.
it.

Windows Pointed arches, rose Pointed arches were

windows and tinted often used but not
glass (often depicting decorative glass.
biblical stories)

Roofs Low pitched roofs High pitched roofs with

and ribbed vaults. gable ends.

Exterior of the Palace of
Westminster
Lyndhurst Mansion - Tarrytown,
New York
British and American Gothic Revival
The British Gothic architectural style is identifiable by its use of pointed arch windows,
high walls, and elements drawn from medieval Gothic design, such as flying buttresses,
support arches, battlements, parapets, and towers, among other ornamental and
structural aspects.
The American Gothic variation adopted the arched roof and windows and added regional
variations like Carpenter Gothic, which featured gabled roofs and bargeboards—a sloped,
triangular roof and the exterior house trim attached, respectively. One-story porches on
homes, cottage residences, and religious and public structures were also part of the
architectural style in the US.
Gothic Revival in America
Between 1840 and 1880, Gothic Revival became a prominent architectural style for both modest residences and churches
throughout the United States. The much-beloved Gothic Revival stylings, eye-catching 19th-century architecture have many
of these characteristics:

● Pointed windows with decorative tracery

● Grouped chimneys
● Pinnacles
● Battlements and shaped parapets
● Leaded glass
● Quatrefoil and clover-shaped windows
● Oriel windows
● Asymmetrical floor plan
● Steeply pitched gables
 Examples
Woodstock, CT. Bowen House, c.1846.
Referred to locally as the "Pink House". Great
example of carpenter Gothic style, using
board and batten siding and numerous
vertical features.
Savannah, GA. Gothic-style New Bedford, MA. Excellent example of Carpenter Gothic, making
church with a strong vertical decorative use of vertical board & batten siding.
orientation lancet-arched
openings, steeply pitched roof,
and quatrefoil window in the
steeple.
Palace of Westminster Built during the Middle Ages as a home for the King of
England, the palace also became a meeting place for the
Houses of Parliament in 1295. A fire in 1834 left the
palace severely damaged, and it was rebuilt in the
Gothic tradition over the course of 30 years by
architects Sir Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin.
Gothic Revival Characteristics (Palace of
Westminster)
In the subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the Palace, the architect Charles
Barry won with a design for new buildings in the Gothic Revival style, specifically inspired
by the English Perpendicular Gothic style of the 14th–16th centuries. The remains of the
Old Palace were incorporated into its much larger replacement, which contains over 1,100
rooms organised symmetrically around two series of courtyards.

In his design, Barry was concerned to balance the horizontal (which he emphasised with
continuous bands of panelling) with the vertical (which he marked with turrets that ended
high above the walls). He also introduced steeply-pitched iron roofs which emphasised the
Palace's lively skyline. His Gothic scheme for the new Palace also extended to its interior
furnishings, such as wallpapers, carvings, stained glass and even the royal thrones and
canopies. Christian themes were integrated into the design.

Westminster Hall is a key monument of the Perpendicular gothic style and its admirable
oak roof is one of the greatest achievements of medieval construction in wood.
Gothic Revival Characteristics (Palace of Westminster)
Towers

The Palace of Westminster has three main towers. Of these, the largest and tallest is the 98.5-metre (323 ft) Victoria
Tower, which occupies the south-western corner of the Palace. The tower was an integral part of Barry's original design,
of which he intended it to be the most memorable element.

At the north end of the Palace rises the most famous

of the towers, Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as
Big Ben.

The shortest of the Palace's three principal towers (at

91 metres (299 ft), the octagonal Central Tower
stands over the middle of the building, immediately
above the Central Lobby.
Palace of Westminster

Gardens
There are a number of small gardens surrounding the Palace
of Westminster. Victoria Tower Gardens is open as a public
park along the side of the river south of the palace. Black
Rod's Garden is closed to the public and is used as a private
entrance. Old Palace Yard, in front of the Palace, is paved
over and covered in concrete security blocks.
Gothic Revival
Characteristics
(Palace of
Westminster)
Strawberry Hill House
Strawberry Hill House—often called simply Strawberry Hill—is the Gothic Revival villa that
was built in Twickenham, London, by Horace Walpole

Author Horace Walpole transformed this cottage located outside Twickenham, London, into
a Gothic Revival villa between 1749 and 1776. Walpole added castle-like elements, including
towers and battlements, and those drawn from churches, like vaulted ceilings and stained
glass, which would serve as the foundation for the Gothic Revival movement.
 AR1951 - Ronak Parakh,
AR1970 - Akshat Ratadia,
AR1976 - Hetvi Shah,
AR1979 - Palash Shah,
AR1981 - Suhani Shah,
AR1987 - Dhruv Tapadia,
AR1990 - Deep Umretiya

Thank You