Winter Break: English Gothic and Gothic-Revival Art and Architecture

Caroline, Tony, Madeline, and Danny started their free day at Ruskin’s Café, a coffeeshop located below John Ruskin’s former residence. Danny will be writing his research paper on Ruskin’s The Stones of Venice, and he hoped that the café’s pastries might inspire him. From there they went to the William Morris Gallery in the Walthamstow area of North London, revisited the Victoria & Albert Museum, and crossed the Thames to see a few exhibitions at the Tate Modern. Somehow they miraculously met up with Charlotte in the busy Victoria station for an Indian dinner before boarding the train to Ramsgate. Charlotte visited Bath—a 1½ hour train ride from London. She toured the Roman Baths and Medieval Abbey in addition to taking a two-hour walking tour of the city in the bitter cold. Though it was a quick trip, it was a productive research expedition! Julia spent the morning souvenir shopping with Manny, and by the end of their tour a light flurry was falling. Though it was nothing to our Minnesota standards, by the time Julia hopped on a bus to Oxford, Londoners—like the one behind her on the bus—were describing it as a “blizzard.” As a result, the bus trip took 3 hours instead of 2, and she ended up with approximately 45 minutes to spend in Oxford. She took a fly-by tour with a friend who is a student at Oxford, and then had to hop back on the bus to make it back to Victoria in time to go to Ramsgate. Phil went to Letchworth, the first “garden city” built in England. The city appeared quite green in contrast to the falling white snow. The little museum near the train station depicted the city before and after the garden city movement. Spencer’s movements at this point remain clouded in mystery. He did, however, wind up with the others aboard the train that took them all to Ramsgate, where two taxis brought the group to The Grange, the home of A.W.N. Pugin, father figure of the Gothic Revival. Everyone happily dropped their luggage and warmed their toes by the fireplace in Pugin’s living room, surrounded by his urgent, blue-and-red “en avant” wallpaper with his invented martlet family crest.