Gothic Style

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Gothic architecture is a style that began in France during the 12th century. It was particularly associated with cathedrals and other churches. In Florence, Italy, the Gothic style became widespread in the 15th century AD. England could see a series of Gothic revivals in the mid 19th century and it spread across other parts of Europe. Across America, in the 20th century, this style was largely used for ecclesiastical and university structures.

Gothic style emphasizes the vertical plane and features largely skeletal stone structures. Gothic architecture structures have large stained-glass windows that allow more light to pass through. These windows are usually the point of focus to design other structures of the building. Usually, buildings have extensive glass windows, sharply pointed spires, cluster columns, flying buttresses, ribbed vaults, pointed arches using the ogive shapes, and inventive sculptural detail. Flying buttresses were used as a means to support higher ceilings and slender columns.

Building materials used in Gothic architecture are usually native stones. But in Northern Germany, Scandinavia, and Northern Poland, where native stones were unavailable, simplified provincial Gothic churches were built out of bricks. Gothic brick buildings were associated with Hanseatic league, an alliance of trading cities of Northern Europe. There are over a hundred brick Gothic castles across Northern Poland built by the Teutonic Knights.

The French Gothic style has different sub-styles, including Rayonnant and Flamboyant styles. The Gothic cathedrals of France are highly decorated with statues on the outside and paintings on the inside. They are built over several successive periods and the dominant architectural style changes throughout a particular building. In England, Gothic style was more widely revived as a decorative, whimsical alternative.

The Gothic style that prevailed in the 20th century, known as Neo-Gothic, is found mainly in modern churches and college buildings. Although it was considered inappropriate, Gothic style was used for early steel skyscrapers, jailhouses, and towers.

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Understanding Gothic Revival Architecture

Some architectural styles should never change. That's likely what many builders thought in the early 1800s when Gothic architecture was re-discovered. With its tall, looming lines and intricate facades, the style was as relevant and attractive then as it was in its original period between the 12th and 16th century. Many Gothic Revival structures throughout the united states have been carefully preserved, and new examples are always celebrated.

Gothic and Gothic Revival architecture is always easy to identify. Buildings of this style often have high pitched roofs or spires, tall, narrow windows coming to a point at the top, exposed wood structural beams, and cross hatched decorative patterns. Because of its defining characteristics many people have the misconception that all gothic buildings are tall and narrow. In fact, some of the best examples of the style are squared or rectangular structures such as the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and the Saint Clotilde Basilica in Paris - the Gothic tradition in these buildings is as apparent as anywhere else. Gothic skyscrapers built in the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly in New York City, may be responsible for the style's most common interpretation. The Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburg, is another beautiful example of tall, narrow Gothic architecture.

Gothic architecture is widely accepted to have begun in the 12th century with the Basilique Saint-Denis in Paris, where nearly all of the country's monarchs were buried. The style quickly spread across Europe, and was developed over several centuries, with the last high profile example being the Chapel at Westminister, built by Henry VII in the early 16th century.

Gothic architecture never died out completely, but resurfaced less frequently between the 16th and 19th centuries, while post renaissance styles were popularized. The literature of the 19th century helped as much as anything to revive interest in the middle ages, as authors like Horace Walpole began to celebrate the period in their works.

The Gothic Revival was in full swing by the early 19th century, and came to America in the 1830s. While the style re-emerged largely unchanged, it was now being applied to smaller structures like homes and commercial buildings, as well as in traditional settings. Gothic revival architecture remained popular in the U.S. until the 1870s, although, again, it never vanished completely. Aspects of the Art Nouveau style of the 1930s can be traced to Gothic and Gothic Revival architecture, and occasionally a gifted architect is able to channel the original style in all its unmistakable stark beauty.

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How to find a book on Gothic-style homes . . . ?

I don't mean like Traditional Victorian-Gothic styled-homes. I mean like how to decorate your home. Imagine walking into Marilyn Manson's home, or Amy Lee (from Evanescence), or Kat Von D's, or Ozzy Osbourne's. I want my house decorated on the inside like that dark, Gothic, almost evil, vampiric-type style. The Addam's Family type think. Are there any home-improvement books on this type of style?

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Paint It Black you can turn the unbearably mundane into the delightfully macabre with little more than a touch of creativity and a can of black spray paint.

Elevator Helps Out Church Members With Physical Challenges
In the days when attending church services meant traveling by horse-drawn buggy, Congregationalists in the Cobalt and Middle Haddam areas had no wish to be jostled any more than necessary.

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