The American Gothic House , also known as Dibble House , is a house in Eldon, Iowa, designed in a Gothic Carpenter style with distinctive top windows. It was the background of Grant Wood's 1930s American Gothic painting. Generally regarded as Wood's most famous work and among the most famous paintings in twentieth-century American art, the painting is a model for hundreds of parodies in every creative medium. Grant Wood, who watched the house only twice in his life, only sketched home early - he completed Gothic America at his studio in Cedar Rapids.
First owned by the Eldon Charles Dibble population after its construction in 1881 and 1882, the house (with the exception of 1897) became a private residence until the late 20th century. After thirty years of conservation efforts reached its peak with home donations in 1991 to the Iowa State Historical Society, the site now includes the original home in the form of a 1930 and visitor center. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Since 1991, many housekeepers still rented the house privately.
Video American Gothic House
Initial history and architecture
Charles A. Dibble (born 1836 in Saratoga County, New York), with stories of a railroad man, stable sticky owner, and Civil War veteran, lived in Eldon in the late nineteenth century. He and his wife, Catharine, began building the house in 1881 for themselves and their eight children. Its relatively simple board-and-batten siding, white, and medium-sized colors - only 504 square feet (46.8 m 2 ) - is quite common in nineteenth-century Iowa architecture. A similar style can be observed at the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover in the Western Branch, built a decade before the American Gothic House, featuring a board-and-mute siding, a simple shingled roof, central chimney, a white color, and moderate sizes as well. Unique and unusual exterior features at home include two Gothic windows on the saddle roof and a steep roof. Both features will be exaggerated by Grant Wood at American Gothic . The lower floor of the house contains three rooms and one bathroom, while the upper floor has two bedrooms. The house has been called the most famous example of the Gothic Carpenter hut in the United States.
There is no conclusive proof that explains why Dibbles chose to place Gothic windows at the top level. Windows are believed to have been purchased through the Sears catalog. There are two generally accepted theories: Dibbles may want windows to beautify their homes when rural life in Iowa is a struggle, or they could follow a trend where luxurious detail is desirable in residence in the late nineteenth century. century, and Dibbles chose windows that were relatively reasonable at that time.
Dibbles' house was confiscated around 1897 after they could not pay their taxes, and they moved to Portland, Oregon in 1900. It changed hands several times until 1917, when Gideon and Mary Hart Jones bought it. The Jones family had a house until 1933 (and added a kitchen that created the west wing of the house); thus, it was the Joneses who allowed Grant Wood to use their home as a backdrop for Gothic America . Maps American Gothic House
Gothic America
During the summer of 1930, Edward Rowan, a young gallery director from Cedar Rapids, a large town about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Eldon, attempted to promote art in rural towns by opening galleries and libraries and leading art classes at Eldon. Rowan's efforts were met with success - the Eldon Forum called the exhibit "an unusual treat." This, along with the debt Wood felt for Rowan, attracted the painter (the original self from Anamosa, Iowa) to come to Eldon.
In August, Wood is driven around town by a young Eldon painter, John Sharp, looking for inspiration. Brother Sharp suggested in 1973 that it was on this journey that Wood first sketched the house on the back of an envelope. Wood did not immediately assume the house was beautiful, but he felt very charming. His earliest biographer, Darrell Garwood, notes that Wood "thought it was a form of borrowed pretense, a structural impossibility, to put Gothic-style windows in a very fragile frame house." At that time, Wood classified it as one of the "framed cardboard houses [i sic] in an Iowa farm" and considered it "very easy to paint." After getting the Jones family's permission, Wood sketched the next day with oil on the carton from the front yard. This sketch features a steeper roof and longer windows with ogive that stand out from the actual house, a feature that finally graced the last work; However, Wood did not add any numbers to the sketch until he returned to Cedar Rapids. He would not return to Eldon again before his death in 1942, though he asked for a photo of the house to finish his painting.
Later history and current status
Decades after Gothic America is considered an American icon, the home continues to function as a private residence, usually for hire, transferring ownership only once more from the Joneses to the Seldon Smith family in "sales distress" in 1942. The grassroots movement to preserve the house began as early as 1945 by Nan Wood, Grant Wood's sister and the female figure depicted in Gothic America. The visit in 1960 to the house (which began to fall into disrepair) by architects and historians Des Moines William J. Wagner, A.I.A limited this initial effort. He was among the first to suggest home preservation as a historic site:
In the early 1970s, a series of letters between Eldon businessman and Carl E. Smith, the newly inherited homeowner, expressed different opinions about sustainable home use: Smith wanted to renovate the house and protect it from vandalism alone; Eldon leaders prefer to make the house a historical place. The house was abandoned for much of the 1970s - a bullet fired in the upstairs bedroom; weather and vandalism take their toll as well. It was not until the late 1980s that property owners considered handing home to the state. Indeed, many southerners of Iowan are in conflict with this issue - the owner wants to defend the house just because he believes the current tenants have nowhere else to go if they are forced to leave.
After the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 (the result of an application by Eldon farmers), the owner refurbished the house, installed the indoor and electric shower and restored windows and wallpaper. Local politicians believe such work coupled with new museums and educational centers can provide a major boost to local tourism - a state senator hopes for as many as 100,000 visitors a year. After the owner finally gave the property to the Iowa State Historical Society in 1991, attempts were made to move the house to Living History Farms outside Des Moines, but the Eldon fought to defend it within their city limits. The house was renovated in 1992, with starters hoping to see the house become a popular pop culture attraction, such as the Field of Dreams site in the same Dyersville countryside. Today, the American Gothic House Center has about 15,000 visitors per year, which does not take into account additional visitors after hours.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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