"Shenandoah Gothic”

Gothic Revival Architecture

in the Valley

The "Shenandoah Gothic" Exhibition is a collaborative research project of the seminar ARTH 444: Gothic and Gothic Revival Architecture. While this style has usually been associated with wealthy Virginia planters in eastern Virginia, a review of the National Historic Register shows that almost half of the Gothic Revival buildings in Virginia are located in the Valley.  Students are studying and photographing the buildings onsite, as well as  writing a history of Gothic Revival in the region.

Besides this photographic essay, buildings are being documented in the "Shenandoah Gothic Revival" group on flickr.com.

Student participants include Rachel Barnett, Molly Delaney, Nicole Desiderio, Caitlin Kimak, Sherry Matthews, Carey Milliron, Andrea Morgan, Molly O'Gorman, Paige Ramsey, Taylor Rash, Maggie Riggs, Brianna Speacht, Philip S. Tickle and Katelyn Wood.

The seminar is taught by Dr. Kathleen (Kay) G. Arthur, JMU faculty emerita in Art History and Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Madison Art Collection.

Exhibition Topics

The Earliest Gothic Revival in the Valley

Antebellum Gothic Revival in Staunton and Harrisonburg

A.J. Davis and Andrew Downing’s “Gothic Villas”

Reconstruction Churches in the Valley

Victorian Gothic Revival in Staunton and Harrisonburg

Late Gothic Revival in Harrisonburg

Late Gothic Revival in the Northern Valley