After years of being tasked with designing modern farmhouses and other uber-simple, pared-down iterations of American residential architecture across the Southeast and beyond, it seems that there is some movement towards styles that have additional decorative features and include a generous heaping of detail and a little extra love.

I’ve already written about the Italianate style, which we’ve been championing for years as one that is timeless and will age gracefully.

Another style we’d love to see more of is Gothic Revival.

What the Experts Say About Gothic Revival

I love reading what the official experts on architectural styles say about these homes, which originally were popular roughly around the mid-1800s. The experts basically say that in this trend vernacular (read: hometown, regular folks) craftsmen took the most easily accessible classic Gothic style features and incorporated them into home and church designs.

Thus, the characteristic steeply pitched roofs, wide covered porches, pointed arches, and especially the gabled roofs with decorated bargeboards (i.e., gingerbread trim) that look classically timeless to us were at one time considered the provenance of common rather than elite craftsmen and architects—if the sources I have found can be believed.

The Scroll Saw: A Tool That Shaped a Style

It seems that much of the credit for the decorative fretwork that is a signal characteristic of this style goes to the scroll saw, which was newly invented at the time and replaced time-consuming and costly hand coping. Thus, the scroll saw made fretwork available to the masses (!). Powered by treadles, hand cranks, or foot pedals at first and followed by steam power later, these saws are a prime example of how technological advancements shaped architecture.

Why Gothic Revival Still Matters

While today, decorative features are often the first things to be cut if construction estimates return high, these beautiful homes stand as reminders that sometimes, a detail can make the difference between a home that becomes historic and one that just gets old.

Sometimes it may make sense to build a smaller, cozier home that allows room in the budget for a few special features.

Modern Gothic Revival: A Fresh Take

We recently had the opportunity to design a Carpenter Gothic home in Alabama, and we have seen interest in the Gothic Revival style from folks in North Carolina and Tennessee. We welcome more opportunities to take a fresh look at this style by staying true to its roots while making it affordable and functional for the homes of today.