Tag: Gothic Revival
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Caught Between Eras: Chateau de Pierrefonds
The Chateau de Pierrefonds, a castle in France, demonstrates how the line between medieval and modern can get really blurry.
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The Past: Thomas Cole’s imaginary tournament
Thomas Cole’s The Past (1838) is a cheerful depiction of a medieval tournament. Here are my many thoughts on this delightful painting.
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Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart: the Gothic Spirit in America
The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart is a beautiful, massive Gothic Revival church in Newark, New Jersey. There, I recap my recent visit.
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Lyndhurst at Christmastime
Over the weekend, I visited Lyndhurst, a 19th-century Gothic Revival mansion in Tarrytown, NY, to take the delightful Christmas tour.
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A Chateau in North Carolina – My Visit to Biltmore
Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC was once the home of George Vanderbilt and his family. Now a resort and museum, it was the object of my recent trip.
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Charles Meryon’s “Le Stryge” (a Grotesque)
Charles Méryon’s famous print depicting a grotesque on the façade of Notre-Dame de Paris is a big part of how this grotesque became so iconic.
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Kingscote (My Newport Adventures)
Kingscote was owned by George Nobel Jones, and then several generations of the King family (who obviously gave it the name). The home was built in 1841 but substantially enlarged in the 1880s for the Kings. The original house was designed by Richard Upjohn, and the addition was by McKim, Mead, and White. Kingscote is large and impressive,…
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My visit to Lyndhurst, an American castle
Lyndhurst is an huge house in Tarrytown, New York. It was home to politician William Paulding, businessman George Merritt, and finally Gilded Age industrialist Jay Gould and his family. Lyndhurst has incredible Gothic Revival architecture, stained glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany and John LaFarge, and great furniture.
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More Gargoyle and Grotesques of Notre Dame de Paris
Today’s grotesque is a true classic. The gargoyles of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris are neither the oldest nor the most interesting of their kind, but they have certainly become the most famous. The interior and exterior of this church, which was a major milestone in the history of Gothic architecture, were both rather creatively restored by Gothic Revival proponent…
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Grotesques of William Rainey Harper Memorial Library, Chicago
I have recently become obsessed with gargoyles and grotesques who are reading. (Possibly I feel kinship to them.) While doing research on collegiate gargoyles and grotesques a few months ago, I realized how many colleges and universities have at least one sculpture of someone reading a book. Both people and animals are shown in this studious pursuit, and they are…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is a railway station in Mumbai, India. Formerly called the Victoria Terminus, it was designed by Frederick William Stevens and constructed between 1878 and 1888, during British colonial rule of India.(1) The building is Victorian Gothic in style but also clearly reflects some characteristics of native Indian architectural traditions. According to UNESCO’s website…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Casa della Vittoria, Turin
This dragon grotesque and his twin live on the Casa della Vittoria in Turin, Italy. The building is also sometimes called Casa dei Draghi, presumably because of decorations like this one. (“Drago” is the Italian work for “dragon”.) I’m having trouble finding out more about the building, on account of the fact that my Italian is currently a bit rusty,…
