Carpenter Gothic

Architectural style
the architectural style

Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house carpenters. The abundance of North American timber and the carpenter built vernacular architectures based upon it made a picturesque improvisation upon Gothic a natural evolution. Carpenter Gothic improvises upon features that were carved in stone in authentic Gothic architecture, whether original or in more scholarly revival styles; however, in the absence of the restraining influence of genuine Gothic structures, the style was freed to improvise and emphasize charm and quaintness rather than fidelity to received models. The genre received its impetus from the publication by Alexander Jackson Davis of Rural Residences and from detailed plans and elevations in publications by Andrew Jackson Downing.

Carpenter Gothic houses and small churches became common in North America in the late nineteenth century. Additionally during this time, Protestant followers were building many Carpenter Gothic churches throughout the midwest, northeast, and some areas in the south of the US. This style is a part of the Gothic Revival movement. For example. these structures adapted Gothic elements, such as pointed arches, steep gables, and towers, to traditional American light frame construction. The invention of the scroll saw and mass produced wood moldings allowed a few of these structures to mimic the florid fenestration of the High Gothic. But in most cases, Carpenter Gothic buildings were relatively unadorned, retaining only the basic elements of pointed arch windows and steep gables. Probably the best known example of Carpenter Gothic is the house in Eldon, Iowa, that Grant Wood used for the background of his famous painting American Gothic.

Carpenter Gothic is largely confined to small domestic buildings and outbuildings and small churches. It is characterized by its profusion of jig sawn details, whose craftsmen designers were freed to experiment with elaborate forms by the invention of the steam powered scroll saw. A common but not necessary feature is board and batten siding. Other common features include decorative bargeboards, gingerbread trim, pointed arched windows, wheel window, one story veranda, and steep central gable. A less common feature is buttressing, especially on churches and larger houses. Exterior elements like pointed arches made their way inside the homes as well. This can be seen in pointed arch openings and doorways.

Being a part of the Gothic Revival, the ornamentation in Carpenter Gothic is much more eclectic, it uses more superficial and obvious motifs.

Many American Carpenter Gothic structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which may help to ensure their preservation. Many, though, are not listed and those in urban areas are endangered by the increased value of the land they occupy. A current example of this is St. Saviour's Episcopal Church, Maspeth, New York, built in 1847 by Richard Upjohn. It was sold to a developer in 2006. Its rectory had already been demolished and a deal with the City of New York to preserve the church in exchange for higher density on the remaining vacant land fell through and the parcel went on the market for $10 million. After a number of postponements, in March 2008, just hours before the final deadline to demolish the church, a deal was struck with a local community group, whereby they were allowed time to raise money to move the structure. At a cost of some $2 million, the building was reduced to its original appearance and dismantled into pieces, so it could be transported through the narrow, winding streets of the neighborhood. It was reconstructed on the grounds of a cemetery in the nearby neighborhood of Middle Village, where it is now used for community activities.

"American Gothic" is a painting by Grant Wood from 1930. It depicts American rural life with its subject being a “stern” looking father and his daughter in front of a small Carpenter Gothic style house. and a decision by the artist to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."

Steamboat Gothic architecture, a term popularized by Frances Parkinson Keyes's novel of that name, is sometimes confused with Carpenter Gothic architecture, but Steamboat Gothic usually refers to large houses in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys that were designed to resemble the steamboats on those rivers.

St. Luke's Church in Blue Ridge, Georgia, was built in 1995. Houses and churches are sometimes built in the Carpenter Gothic style into the 21st Century.

Many nineteenth century timber Gothic Revival structures were built in Australia, and in New Zealand – such as Frederick Thatcher's Old St. Paul's, Wellington, and Benjamin Mountfort's St Mary's, but the term "Carpenter's Gothic" is not often used, and many of their architects also built in stone.