Kim Lovejoy
New York Landmarks Conservancy
Common Bond June, 1998 Vol. 12, No. 1

American Religious Buildings

The Late Gothic Revival

The Gothic Revival had three major phases between 1830 and 1940, of which the last version, the Late Gothic Revival, is the topic of this article. The prominent architectural idiom of this phase was the Neo-Gothic style. Large numbers of Christian churches were built for all denominations in this style, although Romanesque or Byzantine influences were more popular among Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Jewish congregations. "Collegiate Gothic" was adopted by many of the proliferating educational institutions of the period for its European universities. Commercial buildings also cloaked themselves in Gothic imagery, as in the Woolworth Building (Cass Gilbert, 1910-13) in lower Manhattan, a "Cathedral of Commerce" clad in white terra cotta.

The leading proponent of the Late Gothic Revival was the architect and medievalist Ralph Adams Cram of Boston (1863-1942). Cram developed a theory that Gothic style had not exhausted itself, but had been prematurely cut off by the Renaissance and the Protestant

Reformation in the 16th century. Inspired by the originality of the English Gothicists of the late 19th century, Cram felt that with creative scholarship the Gothic style could be adapted to the needs of a modern age. Cram was highly successful in this endeavor, producing vast numbers of churches across the country, collegiate campuses (including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and Princeton University), and even commercial buildings.

A group of architects called the Boston Gothicists carried out this vision of a new Gothic era in America. First among these was Henry Vaughn (1845-1917), who emigrated to Boston from England, where he had been chief draftsman for the leading Gothicists George Bodley. "Vaughan's recreations of English parish churches [in New England]... set new standards for American church design and inspired many younger architects, Particularly Ralph Adams Cram", Wrote William Morgan, and author of The Almighty Wall: The Architecture of Henry Vaughan. In New York State, Vaughan designed the Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House, Manhattan (1901-1903); Chapel of the Nativity at Church of the Incarnation, Manhattan (1903); Church of the Mediator, Kingsbridge, Bronx (1913); and three chapels, the font, and the pulpit (1915-1918) at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan (see back cover).

The skills of Cram's office were revealed in highly acclaimed works such as St. Thomas' Church and Parish House (Episcopal), at the corner of 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, 1906-1914). This masterpiece of a city church, with bold massing and a strong profile, has plain ashlar limestone surfaces embellished with dense French Flamboyant Gothic detail. Bertrand Goodhue's original genius in decoration is displayed in the great reredos at St. Thomas, inspired by the altar screen at Winchester Cathedral in England.

Cram's small parish churches were widely copied. Their mass, proportion, and composition were superb. A prime example is the First Presbyterian Church of Far Rockaway (1908), a country church with a cruciform plan and central tower. The walls are of monochromatic brick with cast stone trim and a slate roof. The interior space and quality of design and craftsmanship throughout is exemplary. St. Mark's Church (Episcopal), Mt. Kisco (1909-1912) and several others in New York State are by the Cram firm.

Among the many small Neo-Gothic parish churches by other architects are Central Park United Methodist Church, Buffalo (Charles Bolton, 1923) and St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Seneca Falls (Joseph P. Flynn, 1929). Riverside Church (Baptist) at 490 Riverside Drive in Manhattan (Allen & Collens and Henry C. Pelton, 1930) is unusual for its adaptation of the ornament of the French Gothic Cathedral at Chartres to a 21-story steel-framed building. Allen & Collens also designed Union Theological Seminary (1910), at West 120th to West 122nd Street between Broadway and Claremont Avenues, a Collegiate Gothic quadrangle with two towers, Chapel, library, refectory, and dormitories that recall medieval Oxbridge.

Another disciple of Cram in Boston was Charles D. Maginiss (186719SS), founder of Maginniss and Walsh, and the leading American architects in the Roman Catholic tradition from 1900-to 1940. The firm designed ecclesiastical and collegiate buildings in twenty states in a variety of styles, including Lombard Gothic and English Collegiate Gothic. The altar and baldacchino (the ornamental canopy above the altar) at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan was designed by the firm in 1952. Also at St. Patrick's Cathedral is the early Lady Chapel (Charles T. Mathews, 1906), an academically correct French Gothic design.

The Late Gothic Revival reached its apogee in the early 20th century. The well designed, expertly built structures of the period stand on their own as masterpieces of the adaptation of Gothic forms and principles to the needs of American institutions. After the 1920s, Georgian and Colonial Revival styles became more popular. In the other direction, Gothic lent itself to transformation into streamlined Moderne, and still lingers as a source of inspiration for religious buildings of the late 20th century.