A General View of the Interior of a Drawingroom, fitted up and furnished in the Gothic Style, is given in fig. 2021 [see above]. "The tracery of the ceiling should be of oak, or of stucco painted in imitation of that wood. The fillets and flowers should be gilt; the panels painted blue, and the ornaments of the cornice also gilt. The dado should be of oak, painted and gilt. In this Design are shown two different varieties of chairs, a piano-forte, a music-stool, a music-desk, a Canterbury, a sofa, a fire-screen, and a footstool." We need not express an opinion of this interior; for every reader, we think, must be pleased with it. Even the studies of furniture which it affords are interesting; the Gothic piano- forte and music-stool, with the Canterbury on the left hand, and the music stand on the right; the Gothic couch, with its footstool; the two beatuiful chairs; and, finally, the firescreen, all claim attention, and are each separately worthy of study.
J. C. Loudon, An Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture, London, 1833, though obviously an English work, was an influence on American Gothic interior design.
Copyright © 2003 Sarah E. Mitchell