Gothic Revival The Style Popular In The 18th And 19th Centuries Is Coming Back

Lighten up. Today’s Gothic design is anything but heavy. White paint and handsome stencils replace dark wood interiors. Tall Gothic windows with pointed arches let daylight pour in. And at night, with candlelight playing on the tracery, it can be downright romantic.

Gothic Revival, a style popular in the 18th and 19th centuries based on medieval church architecture, is enjoying a bit of a renaissance. Gothic-inspired rooms are showing up in decorating magazines; and reproductions of Gothic furniture, accessories, fabrics and wallcoverings are coming into the market.

There’s also a new book, “Gothic Style: Architecture and Interiors from the Eighteenth Century to the Present,” (Abrams $60) by Kathleen Mahoney, a senior editor at House Beautiful magazine.

The original Gothic style that arose in Europe during the Middle Ages was primarily architectural, but with the revivals came interior decoration. Today, Gothic motifs such as the trefoil and quatrefoil, three- and four-lobed cloverlike patterns, the fleur-de-lis and the oak leaf are used on flatware, lighting fixtures, fabric, wallpaper and much more. Gothic arches found on cathedral windows and doors are translated into furniture design.

Another characteristic of Gothic design is the stone tracery in Gothic churches and castles that shows up as lacy patterns in windows or on walls. The tracery is reproduced in plaster or wood or simply as lines drawn or painted onto fabric.

Mahoney dates the latest incarnation of Gothic Revival to the 1980s when touches of Gothic began appearing in trendy rooms.

“The Gothic style appeals to a number of key interior designers because of its whimsy and fancifulness, and the strength and eccentricity of many of the furniture pieces, fabrics and decorative accessories,” Mahoney says.

Those who want to see the style carried to its fullest will find it done to the nines in Mahoney’s book. For those who want to follow her lead and stencil a wall as Mahoney did in her bedroom, stencil patterns are available.

You don’t need a Gothic house to create a Gothic room, revival or otherwise. And you don’t need a practical reason to create it.

“What brought Gothic back in the 18th century was a fascination with nature and the supernatural,” Mahoney says. “Many people are once again interested in the supernatural, as shown by the popularity of angels and Gothic novels.

“Gothic design is part of the same mood.”