Gothic Revival Architecture

An example of the Gothic Revival houses that Andrew Jackson Downing

 recommended as appropriate for rural living in the years just before the Civil War.

Tune in to Catskills Folk tonight, October 21 at 7 p.m. on WIOX at 91.3 FM or wioxradio.org to hear a discussion of Gothic Revival architecture, the style of the current Catskills Vernacular Architecture Challenge #4 (see below).  

Catskills Vernacular Architecture Challenge #4

Is this house in your village?  Figure out where it is and call or write to me, Ginny Scheer, to identify the house.  (607-326-4206 or vscheer@juno.com) It is on the main street of a Delaware County village, so all you have to do is name the village.  I have the GPS coordinates on my camera, so you can identify it that way if you wish.

When we were discussing the second two architecture challenges,  the Warren farmhouse on Route 30 south of Roxbury (the yellow farmhouse, below) and the Victorian home of Dr. Moore in Andes (also below),  I mentioned that after the Greek Revival  there were many different architectural styles put forward for rural builders to emulate.  One style that was promoted as particularly appropriate for country houses was the Gothic Revival Style, seen in the challenge above.

In the middle third of the 19th century there were books written about country houses by authors such as Andrew Jackson Downing, and many of the treated buildings used this style.  Notice that the footprint of the house is no longer a rectangle but is not as complex as the footprint of the Moore house from later in the 19th century.

This house has many elements of the Gothic Revival Style: the intricately carved "gingerbread" trim on the eaves and the tops of the porch posts,  the steep gables, board and batten vertical siding, and one side that has siding that is totally smooth, emulating stone.  The stepped windows take the place of true Gothic pointed arch windows, but notice the very long windows - especially on the first floor - that in some cases go all the way to the floor.  You might think it was a Gothic thing to do, but in fact this village sports just such long, tall windows on houses of many styles and ages.

Take the challenge!  Keep an eye out as you drive through villages in the Catskills - especially Delaware County - and see if you can spot this Gothic Revival jewel!  I'll discuss it more on my radio program, Catskills Folk, 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 21, on WIOX 91.3 FM and WIOXradio.org.  

Catskill Mountain Quilters Hall of Fame

Weekend before last at Roxbury Arts Group the Catskill Mountain Quilters Hall of Fame held their annual quilt show.  It was a spectacular exhibit of needleworking talent that ranged from traditional patchwork to applique, from abstract patterns to pictorial quilts, even a quilt that was all white, with incredible stitched quilting and one, called Square Dance, that was pieced entirely from woolen cloth.

My photos are not expemplary of the quilts you might have seen, but focus on the ones that show landscapes.  These I recorded for a future project.

Winter Scene by Mary Tubiolo

Here Comes Santa Claus by Diana Repinz

Koinonia Lake by Bonnie Lindsay

My favorite, however, was a complex quilt submitted by Roxbury's own Sunbonnet Quilters.
Here it is shown with Betty Sherwood of the Sunbonnet Quilters.

And here it is close up.

Many thanks to Pat Cumming for appearing on Catskills Folk on September 23 on WIOX to talk about the quilt show and to Betty Sherwood for all her advice about how to involve more quilters in local groups.

Historic House Construction Methods 1

For hundreds of years houses in the northeastern United States ( and earlier colonies) were built with post and beam construction, in which the weight of the structure was carried by large square or rectangular timbers, usually on the corners of the building or of each of its larger rooms.    There could be intervening studs to support the inner or outer surfaces, but they were seldom load-bearing.

In the middle of the 19th century an alternative construction method was introduced called "balloon frame" in which the heavy posts were replaced by multiple studs that shared the load of the structure. This method lent itself to the newer, multi-faceted shapes of houses being designed in that period. Rather than the rectangular house shapes that had been common in the past, these buildings featured intersecting roof lines, smaller stacked forms, added towers, unusual windows and sometimes wrap around porches.  The illustration below shows the balloon frame for a rectangular house, but by adding studded walls the house plan could be expanded to include the multiplicity of forms you see in the Victorian house featured as Catskills Vernacular Architecture Challenge #3.

 

On my program tonight, October 7, I'll talk about the kinds of exteriors these later 19th century flexibly formed house might have.  If Challenge #3 is identified by airtime, I'll share some of the history of this attractive 19th century residence. -- Ginny