Victorian Gothic Revival in

 Staunton and Harrisonburg

By the 1890s local architects had perfected the Gothic Revival idiom. T. J. Collins of Staunton built three Gothic style churches based on English and French models. St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Staunton (1897) represents a French Gothic cathedral in miniature, while Blessed Sacrament in Harrisonburg (1906) follows an English parish church. Collins also designed Thornrose Cemetery gatehouse and mausoleums in a Romantic Gothic spirit. Since he never traveled to Europe, Collins’s designs were inspired by architectural journals and Gothic Revival buildings in Baltimore, Richmond and Norfolk.

St. Francis of Assisi Church, Staunton

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Harrisonburg

Thornrose Cemetery, Staunton