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The term gothic was first used by Renaissance critics to describe architecture that didn't conform to the styles of the Greeks and Romans. In the 12th century, an abbot of the St. Denis monastery, Suger, used Gothic style in his monastery, where Gothic art first started. Gothic architecture was ubiquitous throughout France and Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages. During the 19th century, American architects began to lose interest in Greco-Roman Classicism. As a result, …

…revival style. Davis's friend and fellow architect, Andrew Jackson Downing, wrote books on gothic styled cottage villas in 1837. It was mainly because of Downing that rural America became flowered with wooden Gothic architecture. American gothic revival occurred in the 19th century from 1830 to 1860. It was made popular by architects and artists like Andrew Jackson Downing, Alexander Jackson Davis, and Richard Upjohn. The style was mainly used for cottages, villas, wooden houses, commercial buildings, and churches.