Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called
Carpenter's Gothic, and
Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of
Gothic Revival architectural detailing and
picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters. The abundance of North American timber and the carpenter-built
vernacular architectures based upon it made a picturesque improvisation upon Gothic a natural evolution. Carpenter Gothic improvises upon features that were carved in stone in authentic
Gothic architecture, whether original or in more scholarly revival styles; however, in the absence of the restraining influence of genuine Gothic structures, the style was freed to improvise and emphasize charm and quaintness rather than fidelity to received models. The genre received its impetus from the publication by
Alexander Jackson Davis,
Rural Residences and from detailed plans and elevations in publications by
Andrew Jackson Downing.