In the 1840s thru the 1870s, the writings of America's premier landscape gardener, Andrew Jackson Downing, awakened public sensitivities to the picturesque American landscape. The architectural style Downing proposed to be most suited to this “Romantic” landscape sported high gables, towers, and turrets - Gothic Revival - recalled the mystery and fantasy of the distant medieval times. Pointed arches, quatrefoils and trefoils, in combination with organic forms like oak leaves and acorns, decorated many household objects. Cabinetmakers Thomas Brooks, Joseph Meeks, George Platt and Alexander Roux adapted these motifs in Furniture of oak, mahogany, rosewood and walnut. |