The Gothic Revival style was one of the primary modes of residential architecture in the third quarter of the 19th century. It was introduced by the romantic ideals of A.J. Downing and A.J. Davis, who sought what they believed would be an American architecture. Their contemporary Augustus Pugin brought the Gothic Revival mode back to use in ecclesiastical architecture, and some medieval Gothic Revival features appeared in residential architecture as well. The Gothic Revival style introduced several decorative elements that were being produced in large quantities and shipped by rail; these items included brackets and consoles, jigsaw bargeboard decorations, and pinnacles and pendants. Gothic Revival architecture was another step towards the more complicated architecture found later in the 19th century. Remarkably few Gothic Revival style houses were noted during the 2014 survey - only seven houses.
The standard Gothic Revival house in the United States is an end-gabled building with a cross-gable. The most important example in Erie County is the house at 7245 Old Ridge Road in Fairview Township. This 1.5-story, 3-bay house displays several key features of the Gothic Revival style: its steeply pitched roof, centered cross-gable with decorative jigsaw bargeboard, and centered entrance. The more common appearance of Gothic Revival style houses is found at 7800 Gilmore Road, Girard Township, where a less stylish house is two-and-a-half stories with a cross-gable.
Two other subsets of the Gothic Revival style were also noted in Erie County, albeit only one example of each. The house at 9266 Kuhl Road in Greene Township is a 1.5-story house with multiple cross-gables. This house has a common design for tenant houses found throughout the Commonwealth. The house at 64 West Main Street, North East Borough, is a more formal house that represents a common type in more urban areas. It is a 1.5-story building with a projecting center bay (often called a pavilion) that announces its entrance. As with most examples of houses with such a projecting center bay, the centered cross-gable is flanked by small gabled dormers on the steep roof.
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