Collegiate Gothic

Collegiate Gothic is a type of architectural style that was popular in the United States between the late 19th century and the mid-20th century. It is usually associated with buildings on college and university campuses.

Imagine you're playing with blocks and you're building a castle. You want it to look really fancy and important, so you decide to make it look like a real castle from a long time ago. That's kind of like what the people who designed college buildings in the Collegiate Gothic style were doing.

Instead of using modern building materials and designs, they wanted their buildings to look like they were from a much older time. That's why you'll see a lot of buildings with tall spires, arches, and lots of detailed decorations like gargoyles and stone carvings.

These buildings were supposed to make people feel like they were in a really special, important place. They were meant to look like places of learning and knowledge, and the architects used a lot of Gothic elements to make people feel like they were part of something bigger than themselves.

The style became popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s in America, and it was used for all kinds of buildings, but especially for colleges and universities. Lots of colleges and universities built buildings in this style to make the campus look more impressive and important.

So next time you're on a college campus and you see a building with lots of tall spires and lots of decorations, you can think, "That's a great example of Collegiate Gothic!"