Gothic Cottage (Suffield, Connecticut) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Gothic Cottage
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| Location | 1425 Mapleton Ave., Suffield, Connecticut |
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| Area | 7.5 acres (3.0 ha) |
| Built | 1846 |
| Built by | Sikes, David Lyman |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 82004441 |
| Added to NRHP | February 25, 1982 |
The Gothic Cottage is a very old and special house located at 1425 Mapleton Avenue in Suffield, Connecticut. It was built way back in 1846! This house is a great example of a building style called Gothic cottage, which became popular thanks to a famous designer named Andrew Jackson Downing. Because it's so unique and important, the Gothic Cottage was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The Gothic Cottage: A Historic Home
This amazing house is found in a quiet, countryside part of northeastern Suffield. It sits quite far back from Mapleton Avenue, across a field. The house has an interesting "L" shape and is about one-and-a-half stories tall. It has a roof that slopes down very steeply.
What Makes This House Look Gothic?
The outside of the house is covered with vertical wooden boards. The pointy parts of the roof, called gables, have fancy carved wood decorations. These decorations are called bargeboard, and they have cool finials (like little pointy tops) and pendants (hanging decorations) at the very peaks.
The windows are tall and narrow, often grouped in twos or threes. They have a special rounded top that looks like a pointed arch, known as a lancet arch. There are also decorative "drip-moulding" frames around the windows. The main door is tucked into the "L" shape of the house and opens into a small entry room. Even inside, you can see Gothic details, like lancet arches on the staircase!
Who Built This Unique House?
The Gothic Cottage was built in 1846 by a man named David Lyman Sikes. His family had lived in Suffield for a very long time, ever since the first settlers arrived.
It seems the design for this house came from a book published in 1842 by Andrew Jackson Downing. His book, called Cottage Residences, was super important for making the Gothic Revival style popular for homes. This style brought back ideas from medieval Gothic churches into house designs. The Gothic Cottage is one of the only houses in Suffield built in this special style. The land where the house stands had been owned by the Sikes family for many years, and it was still in their family when the house was listed as a historic place in 1982.
