5.2 Eclecticism - Gothic Revival

Eclecticism

• mixed style, a combination in a single work from different historical styles, albeit sometimes vague interpretations, in architecture, painting, and the graphic and decorative arts

Historicism

• idealized past empires and cultures, and used motifs or imitating the work of historic artisans to stimulate national nostalgia

• prevalent in architecture: Revival Architecture

Gothic Revival

• most popular style in Victorian Britain and the United States during the 19th century.

• it developed partly as a response to the severity of Neoclassic architecture

• drew features from the original Gothic Style, including decorative patterns, finials, lancet windows, hood molds, and label stops.

• parked by a general literary romantic revolution that produced Gothic tales of horror and romances

• writings of Pugin and Ruskin; and the advocacy of Viollet-le-duc

Augustus Welby Pugin

architectural theorist who believed that the Gothic style was the true Christian architecture and would facilitate a return to a morally virtuous medieval faith and society. 

John Ruskin

proposed that Gothic buildings excelled above all other architecture because of the "sacrifice" of the stone carvers in intricately decorating every stone

Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc

argued that architecture should be based on working with the intrinsic properties of building materials, be they traditional or modern.

Strawberry Hill

earliest documented example of the revived use of Gothic architectural elements.

Fonthill Abbey

designed by James Wyatt

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

designed by James Renwick in NY

The Palace of Westminster

• by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin

• first major public architectural statement in the Gothic Revival Style.

Carpenter Gothic

• America’s counterpart of Gothic Revival

• Characterized by wood, scrolled ornaments and lacy "gingerbread" trim

• homes have steep cross gables, bay and oriel windows, and vertical board and batten siding.