Gothic architecture Houses

Gothic was an architectural style predominant throughout the Middle Ages, from the fall of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance in the early 15th century.

Style

ecclesiastical details - pointed arches, ogee arches, stained glass
red and blue, gold
'tracery' - decorative ribbing
heraldic emblems - coats of arms, mythical beasts and the tree of life
'cusping' - decorative projections of heads, gargoyles, animals or leaves

Influences

medieval ecclesiastical architecture - churches and cathedrals
illustrated medieval manuscripts

The names

AWN Pugin - leader of Gothic revival, he designed interiors and the exterior detailing of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben's clock tower (the Houses themselves were designed by Sir Charles Barry)
George Gilbert Scott - architect of The Albert Memorial, Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras station, London
William Burges - architect of Cardiff Castle
Herbert Minton - a potter who collaborated with Pugin on tiles

At the time

1843 A Christmas Carol is written by Charles Dickens
1847 Emily Bronte writes Wuthering Heights
1865 Louis Pasteur's 'germ theory'
1865 slavery is abolished
1866 dynamite is invented by Alfred Nobel

Get the look

Beams - if you already live in a property with exposed wooden beams, you're halfway there for that medieval baronial style look. The Victorians added fake beams.
Fireplaces - are large and imposing and usually made of stone (limestone) or elaborately carved wood. Choose a surround which has a pointed arch shaped inside surround.
Lighting - tried to emulate the candlelight of authentic medieval ages. Look for huge metalwork chandeliers in black wrought iron and wall sconces in wrought iron and brass.
Cornices - elaborately carved with tracery (ribbing) and latticework or ogee shapes.
Walls - paint in stone colours either flat, or to resemble stone with a paint effect. Create recesses or niches in your walls and give them the pointed arch shape. Hang a medieval style tapestry on your wall attached with simple wooden battens.
Wallpaper - ornate, typically red and gold, and heavily patterned. Look for naturalistically depicted flowers and foliage, stencilled lattice or trelliswork, coats of arms and fleur-de-lys. To get the effect of powdered ornament (evenly spaced motifs) make a stencil from acetate and stamp on your design with gold metallic paint. Alternatively, buy a stamp of your chosen design.
Flooring - choose from large flagstones or fake the effect with clever stone blocking, which is a paint technique. Floorboards can be stained a dark oak colour with woodstain.
Furniture - visit salvage yards and pick up old church furniture such as pews and lecterns. To guarantee the pieces have been obtained legally, check the yard is a member of Salvo. Choose chairs and screens in designs with pointed arches.
Furniture - buy sturdy, hefty furniture such as huge oak dining tables and chairs with barley-twist legs.
Stained glass - an important part of Gothic style because of its church connotations. Have panels commissioned, or make them yourself. Fake the effect with coloured acetates and gels (the kind the film industry uses). Cut out quatrefoils with a scalpel knife.
Accessorise - with pewter plates and tankards, and suits of armour. Cover every available surface with ornaments and particularly stuffed animals in glass domes, place pairs of porcelain dogs at either end of the crowded mantelpiece.

What to invest in

furniture from the Victorian Gothic revival period c.1840 to 1870 such as Gillows of Lancaster and Joseph Meeks & Son of New York.
porcelain by Jacob Petit Factory, Paris.