Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival, a style in architecture, based on medieval Gothic style, that began in the 18th century and flourished in the 19th, especially in Britain and in the United States. It developed partly from the severe Neo-Classicism of Palladian architecture, and partly from a romantic interest in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest examples of Gothic Revival style is Strawberry Hill (1747), the villa of Horace Walpole at Twickenham, west of London.

In the 19th century the Gothic Revival owed its popularity chiefly to A. W. N. Pugin and the writings of John Ruskin. Pugin considered Gothic to be the only architectural style suitable for churches, and it was associated with a religious revival. In church architecture, a scholarly approach was applied to the accurate recreation of medieval Gothic forms. In secular architecture, such as railway stations and other public buildings, the style was used in a freer and more original manner. A prominent example is the Houses of Parliament (1840-1860), designed by Sir Charles Barry and Pugin.

The Gothic Revival in the United States, inspired by that in Britain, was at its most vigorous between about 1825 and 1860. The style was used initially in Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches. St Patrick's Cathedral (1850-1879), in New York, by James Renwick, was closely based on French Gothic style. After the mid-19th century a colourful version of Gothic style became popular; it was more akin to the Venetian Gothic that Ruskin praised in his Stones of Venice (1851-1853) than to that of England and France, and was used both in religious and in secular buildings.