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		West front elevation and plan for Lyndhurst, as enlarged for Merritt. Alexander Jackson Davis (American, 1803–1892). Watercolor on paper. Brisbane Dick Fund, 1924 (24.66.14).

Gothic Revival Style

A great beauty of this style, when properly treated, is the home-like expression which it is capable of, in the hands of a person of taste. This arises, mainly from the chaste and quiet colours of the dark wood work, the grave, though rich hue of the carpets, walls, etc., and the essentially fire-side character which the apartments receive from this kind of treatment. . . . Those who love shadow, and the sentiment of antiquity and repose, will find most pleasure in the quiet time which prevails in the Gothic style.
—Andrew Jackson Downing, The Architecture of Country Houses (1850)

The Gothic Revival style was popular in England and elsewhere in Europe before it took hold in North America in the mid-nineteenth century. American forms drew heavily upon European precedents. The style blossomed in Europe after Gothic features had all but disappeared from architecture and interior design in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; beginning in the eighteenth century and continuing in the nineteenth, architects and designers self-consciously reinterpreted and reinvented the style. In the nineteenth century Gothic architectural forms were integrated into furniture design—a realm beyond the confines of their use in the actual Gothic period (12th–15th century)—and often applied within rooms or on objects designed with classical proportions, thus creating a truly hybrid style. It was popular for a wide range of reasons: a desire to honor the development of "national" vernacular styles in contrast to classical and Neoclassical ones, reawakened religious fervor (particularly the Ecclesiological movement in England), and to lend the weight of "tradition" to new churches, residences, and government buildings, such as the Houses of Parliament in London. A. W. N. Pugin, the architect who designed the interior of the Houses of Parliament, was a major proponent of the style, and his ideas were propagated through commercial pattern books. The nineteenth-century move toward integrated interiors dictated that architecture and interior design went hand-in-hand, and the development of the style was accompanied by academic and theoretical debate.

Gothic Revival style came slowly to the United States and cannot be said to have relied on existing local traditions. The architect Alexander Jackson Davis was an early proponent, and the writings of the landscape architect and theorist Andrew Jackson Downing were extremely influential. Many others were active in the style, and it is clear from extant objects that Gothic Revival pieces—particularly furniture—were produced widely in major cultural centers, such as New York and Philadelphia. The appeal of Gothic styles in America may have lain in the general romantic orientation of the period, fostered by the proliferation of Gothic themes in the books that were so popular among the growing reading public, such as Sir Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake (1810) and Ivanhoe (1819). Indeed, an early Gothic Revival villa at Strawberry Hill in England was built by Horace Walpole, the author of the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764). The Gothic style also lent a "traditional" and historical air to the architecture and furniture of the young nation. Gothic style was thought to be especially appropriate for churches but was also used for villas and houses and was particularly popular in furniture and library design.

Many Gothic Revival features are evident in the objects below from the Metropolitan's collection; click on an individual object to examine it closely. As defined in Downing's Architecture of Country Houses (1850), the style is characterized by "the prevalence of perpendicular lines, and the introduction, in all important openings, of the pointed arch, together with the use of the bold, deep mouldings that belong to its ornamental portions." Although it took its inspiration from the Gothic of the past, Gothic Revival did not involve the replication of the style without alteration; instead, Gothic-inspired designs and structural elements were adapted to nineteenth-century needs, aesthetics, and technologies. At times, motifs were added to previously existing designs; at others, new materials and structures were introduced. The general vocabulary of the Gothic style included pointed arches, rose windows, lancets, tracery, crockets, quatrefoils, trefoils, and naturalistic foliage. Such motifs were utilized in a wide variety of forms and mediums. Chairs were popular subjects for Gothic Revival designers, and it was not uncommon for a family to have at least one hall or library chair in the style. Wood—particularly walnut and oak—was the standard medium, but as technology changed, so too did furniture. Cast iron became popular, as it allowed the formation of intricate designs that were time-consuming to produce in wood. Gothic motifs were applied not only to furniture and architecture but also to metalwork (silver, ironwork, jewelry), ceramics (porcelain and earthenware), blown and stained glass, textiles, and wallpapers.

Learn about Pattern Books

Learn about Bookmaking in the Nineteenth Century

Learn about Nineteenth-Century Libraries

Gothic Revival Room in Andrew Jackson Downing, The Architecture of Country Houses (New York, 1850).

Pattern Books

Cabinetmaking and home construction flourished in the dynamic economy of nineteenth-century America. Builders and manufacturers of middle-grade furniture increasingly required new designs to meet the demands of the growing middle class. Pattern books, produced as commercial products specifically for cabinetmakers, served an important function in this prosperous economy, providing models for furnishings without incurring the expense of hiring individual designers.

Such pattern books were also important in the dissemination of information about styles in furniture design and architecture to the general public. The best-known English pattern book of the early nineteenth century was A. W. N. Pugin's Gothic Furniture in the Style of the Fifteenth Century (1835). While Pugin's ornate designs were often simplified for actual use, his drawings acted as a major impetus in the expansion of Gothic-inspired designs in both England and the United States. In the United States, architectural theorist A. J. Downing's endorsement of the style secured its popularity. Downing sought to make Gothic Revival and other revival styles available to the American public and to ensure the integration of clear and consistent aesthetics in America, in keeping with American needs and priorities. In The Architecture of Country Houses (1850), he advocated the self-conscious adaptation of particular styles:

It requires the hand of the artist to produce and carry out, in all the details of an edifice, that peculiar treatment of lines and forms throughout all the principal features of a building which is called style . . . and as there are among writers the dramatic, the serious, the narrative, and the didactic styles, each peculiarly adapted to the expression of certain modes of thought and life, so there are the Grecian, the Italian, the Gothic, the Romanesque, and other styles—each peculiarly capable of manifesting certain mental temperaments or organizations, or of harmonizing with certain tastes in the life of the individual.

Pattern books brought Gothic and other European styles alive in the United States, where actual examples of such buildings did not exist, and thus were an important element in the creation of an American aesthetic.

Bookmaking in the Nineteenth Century

In the early nineteenth century most books bought and sold in the United States were imported from England, and English bookmakers generally regarded America as a guaranteed market for their overstock. By mid-century, however, book production in America was expanding rapidly. Boston, Philadelphia, and New York became leading publishing centers; they had large populations and were near major bodies of water, which facilitated the distribution of newly produced books across the country as well as access to shipments from abroad. The mass production of books coincided with developments in transportation, such as canals, steamships, steamboats, and railroads.

Dramatic changes in the technology of book production took place early in the century. Large printing presses were originally powered by horses walking on circular tracks. The advent of steam-driven mechanisms increased the ease and speed of production. One of the most popular steam presses was invented by Isaac Adams in 1830. In this bed-and-platen press, the paper rested on a flat surface (platen) and was forced against the printing image carrier, another flat surface (bed). The bed-and-platen was capable of producing between five hundred and one thousand sheets per hour and became popular at medium-size printing establishments. Over time, larger companies demanded faster presses, and by mid-century the cylinder press came to the United States. This machine, able to print four thousand sheets per hour, used plates held on a horizontal or vertical plane (bed), while the ink roller and sheets of paper, carried by a cylinder, passed over it.

Although these new presses enhanced book production, the most significant advances were in the mechanization of tasks previously done by hand. These included the manufacture of boards and binding materials, embossing, paper cutting, trimming, and folding. The new machines lowered costs, making the mass production and trade of books economically viable. Books were more readily available than ever, at prices affordable by the expanding middle class.

The trade and production of books expanded further after the Civil War with the growth of specialized publishing, particularly of what the industry referred to as "cheap books"—inexpensive clothbound or paperback volumes. Paper-covered books were by far the most widely distributed and became a business so large and overwhelming that it threatened to undermine the structure of the trade, as suppliers were often unable to meet demands.

This expanding book market coincided with the growing reading public, as literacy rates steadily increased. By 1840, 97 percent of white citizens twenty-one or older in the northeastern United States could read and write. This new reading public demanded a wide range of materials, including religious tracts, how-to manuals, mysteries, popular histories, biographies, poetry, and scientific studies. Most popular of all were novels, particularly from France and England. Such books may have nourished Americans' increasing awareness of the world at large and provided, in their formulaic plots and stock characters, some degree of comfort in a time of social and cultural change.

Frontispiece from Catherine Beecher, The American Woman's Home, (New York and Boston, 1869).

Nineteenth-Century Libraries

A symbol of prosperity and learning, the book has long served as a powerful indication of social status. In nineteenth-century America, books increased dramatically in popularity, affordability, and variety and became a feature of everyday life. They were bought and read by a wider audience and began to occupy a prominent place in the home. Wealthy or even moderately well-to-do households could dedicate a room to house and display a book collection. The home library changed through the century as reading and ownership patterns evolved.

Until mid-century the home library was generally a male domain and furnishings tended to be heavy and "masculine" in feeling. Architectural theorist A. J. Downing recommended two styles for the library, the "Elizabethan" and the Gothic, both of which were associated with the "man of letters." Gothic architecture was also favored in the design of many prestigious American universities, thus strengthening its scholarly associations. Home libraries also approximated the atmosphere of a church—both as a quasisacred space and a symbol of man's material and spiritual well-being. After about 1850 the home library began to serve multiple functions—as a sitting room or a living room—and was increasingly used by all members of the family.

The library's new character was also related to changing gender roles. After the Civil War, the ideal of a successful man was no longer a man of letters but a businessman—one who provided for the family and had no time for leisure reading. Hence reading for pleasure—especially fiction—came to be identified more strongly with women. It was thought that women not only had more time to read but also had a greater ability to sympathize with fictional characters and thus got more out of novels than did men. The sentimental and often domestic nature of most popular novels was in many cases engineered to appeal to women. Therefore, both the marketing of books and the spaces created for them catered to women. The role of the library continued to change in the early twentieth century, as bookshelves were integrated into the prominent front room in many houses and the stage was set for the birth of the modern living room.

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