[C19fan]

The author claims racism was a major motivation for colleges and universities during the late 19th century to adopt Gothic Revival architecture. What is funny the article shows the Wren Building on the William & Mary Campus as a counter example. The person who put the caption does not seem to realize the building was restored during the 1920s as part of John D. Rockefeller's overall plan to restore Colonial Williamsburg. Gothic Revival was a very popular architectural style during the Victorian Era and it has nothing to do with racism but as a reaction against Neo-Classical architecture and the yearning for what was perceived as the craftsmanship and spirituality of the Medieval period.

[Steely Tom]

What was the architectural style of the people who ended slavery?

[Fido969]

[Steve_Seattle]

The effort to link Gothic architecture with racism is pretty thin. It seems that it was largely an effort to give the schools a sense of gravitas, of tradition, of history, of timelessness. You can’t do that with a grass hut.

[TBP]

Racism everywhere! Aaaaahhhhh!!!

[GraceG]

All that crap has got to cost a lot of money... No wonder college is expensive...

Why not use utility buildings to build the lecture halls and classrooms in?

Ain;t gonna happen because the elite in academia feel like they have to be "gods in their domains"...

They claim to be against the elite, but they ARE the elite!

[onedoug]

Campuses should look more like African villages, huts and all. The witch doctor (PhD of course) can have the biggest one.

[Billthedrill]

The author cited the pertinent quote, italicized the offending phrase, and still managed to draw the incorrect conclusions from the presence of a single word. The phrase is "the English-speaking race." The speaker is Woodrow Wilson, and precisely what he meant by "English-speaking race" is a little murky given the fact that English is a language spoken by many races.

The truth is that language and race aren't the same thing, nor are architecture and race. If your entire worldview is filtered through the current progressive obsession with race then you tend to produce this sort of nonsense.

[Sherman Logan]

I’m no fan of Wilson.

But “English-speaking race” does not equal “racial cultural triumphalism.”

[x]

Good analysis. The original Gothic revival had much to do with nostalgia for the Christian past. Collegiate Gothic added a desire to emulate Oxford and the great cathedrals of Europe.

Certainly, Georgian architecture -- the usual alternative for American college construction -- is (if we have to go there) far more connected to slavery and racism than Gothic.

One of the commenters on the Atlantic site points out that the prominent architect of Duke University's Gothic buildings -- Julian Abele -- was in fact an African-American.

One thing we can fault American collegiate architects for, though, is combining the two styles in strange ways:

[OldNewYork]

It couldn’t have anything to do with European universities our universities emulated traditionally being built in Gothic style, could it?