Skip to main content Skip to Search Box
Definition: Gothic revival from Philip's Encyclopedia

Architecture based on the Gothic art and architecture of the Middle Ages. Beginning in the late 18th century, it peaked in 19th-century Britain and the USA, also appearing in many European countries. British exponents, notably the critic John Ruskin and the writer and architect A.W.N. Pugin, insisted on the need for authentic, structural recreation of medieval styles. Notable examples are the Houses of Parliament in London by Pugin and Sir Charles Barry, and Trinity Church in New York City by Richard Upjohn.

Gothic revival

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
term designating a return to the building styles of the Middle Ages. Although the Gothic revival was practiced throughout Europe, it attained its greatest importance in the United States and England. The early works were designed in a fanciful late rococo manner, exemplified by Horace Walpole's remodeled “gothick” house, Strawberry Hill (1770). By 1830, however, architects turned to more archaeological methods. Thus, just as the classical revivalists had done, they began to copy the original examples more literally. A. W. N. Pugin wrote two of the basic texts of the Gothic revival. In Contrasts (1836) he put forth the idea that the Middle Ages, in its way of life and art, was superior to his own time and ought to be imitated. He amplified his ideas in The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (1841), propounding that not only must Gothic detail be authentic but that the contemporary architect should achieve the structural clarity and high level of craftsmanship that were…
676 results

Full text Article Gothic Revival

From The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms
A revival of Gothic architecture which took place, largly in England and the US, from the mid 18th c. to the mid 19th c. Gothic forms were revived in England in the mid 18th c. in a spirit of playfulness and even mockery, e.g. Horace Walpole's villa at…
| 100 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Gothic Revival

From Dictionary of Architecture and Construction
Gothic Revival: façade of house
A movement originating in the 18th century and culminating in the 19th century, flourishing throughout Europe and the United States, aimed at reviving the spirit and forms of Gothic forms; applied to country cottages, churches, some public buildings, and castlelike structures. Gothic Revival…
| 210 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Gothic revival

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
term designating a return to the building styles of the Middle Ages. Although the Gothic revival was practiced throughout Europe, it attained its greatest importance in the United States and England. The early works were designed in a fanciful late rococo manner, exemplified by Horace Walpole's…
| 467 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Gothic Revival

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Architectural movement ( c. 1730– c. 1930) most commonly associated with Romanticism. The first nostalgic imitation of Gothic architecture appeared in the 18th century, when scores of houses with castle-style battlements were built in England, but only toward the mid-19th century did a true Gothic…
| 216 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Gothic Revival.

From The Oxford Companion to British History
There is some truth in the suggestion that Gothic architecture in Britain never entirely died out, especially in the hands of local craftsmen in remote, rural areas. Certainly, even during the 17th and early 18th cents., a period dominated by classicism, the style had major patrons such as John…
| 459 words

Full text Article Gothic Revival

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
The resurgence of interest in Gothic architecture, as displayed in the late 18th and 19th centuries, notably in Britain and the USA. Gothic Revival buildings include Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin's Houses of Parliament (1836–65) and Gilbert Scott's St Pancras Station Hotel (1868–74) in London; …
| 183 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article GOTHIC REVIVAL

From Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850
During the Renaissance, Gothic became a pejorative label for all things barbarous. In a model of history probably first posited by Petrarch and developed and disseminated by Italian humanists, there were two epochs of cultural excellence: the classical and their own, which were separated by a…
| 1,379 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Carpenter Gothic, Carpenter Gothic Revival

From Dictionary of Architecture and Construction
Carpenter Gothic
A mid-19th century architectural style in which highly decorative woodwork and Gothic motifs were applied to otherwise simple homes or churches in America, usually designed and constructed by carpenters and builders; often asymmetric in plan. Buildings in this style are often characterized by: a…
| 211 words , 1 image
Key concepts:
Art-historically, Gothic refers to a style that originated around Paris in the court circles of France in the late twelfth century, and spread across Europe, lasting well into the sixteenth century. It was characterized by prodigious structural innovation based on the pointed arch, ribbed vault and…
| 578 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Early Gothic Revival

From Dictionary of Architecture and Construction
| 6 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources