Dissenting Gothic - The Later Gothic Revival Period

The Later Gothic Revival Period

By the mid-nineteenth century these early controversies had weakened. In England, the case for commissioning neo-Gothic designs for nonconformist chapels was persuasively argued by the trained architect and Wesleyan Methodist minister, Frederick James Jobson (commonly styled, F. J. Jobson), in his book Chapel and School Architecture (1850); and in America by the Rev. George Bowler's publication setting out examples of elevations and floorplans for nonconformist churches in the Gothic revival style.

By now it was becoming fashionable to adopt neo-Gothic for artistic reasons and intrinsic appeal alone, superseding its early associations with ‘high church’ buildings and their clients. Also, for more prosaic reasons, ‘'Dissenting Gothic'’ began to become commonplace from the mid-nineteenth century onwards; by this date the trustees of independent chapels could more easily afford the high building costs associated with the neo-Gothic style. For example, in Britain the 1851 census recorded, for the first time, a greater number of people attending independent chapels than Anglican churches; the higher level of philanthropic donations and membership fees this provided, could now become reflected in more costly building designs.

By the time the Gothic Revival had matured into a commonly accepted building style for all manner of building types (referred to as the "High Victorian Gothic" period (1855–85) in Britain), the influence of the ecclesiologists with their vision of neo-Gothic as befitting only high church buildings and favouring only pure 'English Gothic' forms with historically correct mediaeval detail, had passed by. This later 'Gothic Revival' period saw a willingness to innovate by many influential architects, reflecting the success of the less narrow approach of Dissenting Gothic. The architect James Cubitt embodied such forward-looking principles in his book, Church Design for Congregations (1870), in which he noted the unsuitability of the conventional Gothic plan for nonconformist chapels, adding "there is every reason why our churches should be fitted for their destined use. It is not enough that they can be used...." His book gave further encouragement to looking at models besides traditional 'English Gothic', referring for example, to designs from Santa Sophia, Torcello, Gerona and Cologne.

Amongst these, northern European Brick Gothic was perhaps the best known alternative to English styles at that time; partly on account of its lower cost than stone blocks, but also its appeal to a section of nonconformist though to whom highly extravagant and ornamented building styles and monuments were either too vulgar, or associated with mediaeval superstition - Spurgeon cautioned against the Gothic fashion leading to "hobgoblins and monsters on the outside of their preaching houses".

In Australia Dissenting Gothic became known as "Victorian Free Gothic" and whilst the established Protestant Church followed its English counterpart in favouring "Academic Gothic", the independent or nonconformist denominations often chose Victorian Free Gothic. They more freely experimented with picturesque silhouettes and polychromatic surfaces; taking more from Ruskin's interest in 'impure' Gothic styles and the artistic merits of Gothic, than from Pugin's High Church and mediaevalist approach.

As the nineteenth century wore on, Dissenting Gothic became widespread not only as old chapels were rebuilt, but also amongst the new city suburbs that were being established in England and elsewhere. for example, as notes: "'Dissenting Gothic' was the style in Bowden, 'Manchester's most relaxed suburb'". Nonetheless its appeal amongst independents or nonconformists was not universal. The Baptists, quite unlike the Wesleyan Methodists and most notably the Unitarians, did not come to a generally accepted accommodation of the neo-Gothic style and indeed Spurgeon advanced the idea that the Grecan style was most appropriate for church buildings because the New Testament was written in Greek. His London Metropolitan Tabernacle of 1861 dramatically illustrated this alternative view.