1940's Gothic Revival?

16 years ago

Hello. I am new to this forum. I just have a question. I want to do some landscaping around a 1940's gothic style house, and was wondering what plants would have been used originally during this period, so I can keep to the style of the house.

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Comments (5)

ginny12
16 years ago
Do you mean 1940s or 1840s? The Gothic Revival was big in the 1840s and you should take a look at books by Andrew Jackson Downing, especially his "Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening", which has been reprinted. You should be able to get it thru the library.
sarahbarah27
Original Author
16 years ago
Oops! Yes, I meant 1840's. Thanks, I will check the library, I have a book called "Restoring Americas Gardens", but I didn't really find what I was looking for.
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rigreening
16 years ago
Sarah: If you're really into this, I recommend spending some time in the old collections section of a library (if they let you in....sometimes they let only "academics" read that stuff). Or, do what I do: spend a lot of time in old book stores, where I find stuff written by the people doing the gardening at that time (rather than contemporary books reviwing the gardening at that time). And sometimes, I go home with the book for keeps.

Of course, you will never find a book written back then about "landscaping" because that term didn't really exist.

George

Here is a link that might be useful: The Heirloom Orchardist
ginny12
16 years ago
Yes, it did exist. "Landscape gardening" as a term had been in existence for quite a long time by the time of the Gothic Revival in the 1840-60 era. And Downing is the man who was the biggest influence on American landscape gardening at the time.

There are a number of very scholarly and accurate books about Downing and his work which would be very helpful to anyone with a Gothic Revival house. There are also some wonderful books about Gothic Revival as a style in architecture and interior furnishings. This could be a fun project and I'd love to see photos posted here some day in the future.
hartwood
15 years ago
sarahbarah, our house is also an 1840's Gothic Revival, and I would love to swap stories and ideas with you. Contact me through GW email on My Page.

In Downing's book "Victorian Cottage Residences", he went to great lengths to suggest landscaping schemes with extensive plant lists and drawings. I tried to include the Google Books link to this book for you, but GW keeps rejecting my message because of it.

Connie