Dissenting Gothic

[2] Moreover, they could be more creative about relationship between form and function, seeking novel but appropriate ways to introduce elements not found in mediaeval Gothic churches, so as to create interiors that met the particular congregational needs of the independent or nonconformist chapel-builders of the 19th century;[3] accommodate Sunday Schools and meeting rooms, with sometimes distorting effects on the physiognomy of the building; use confined city plots in efficient ways by varying from strict Gothic floorplans and orientations; and experiment with a wide range of materials, and polychromatic designs, not found in medieval buildings.

[4] By the mid-19th century, it was increasingly becoming fashionable to adopt neo-Gothic for artistic reasons and intrinsic appeal alone, superseding its early associations with 'high church' buildings and their clients.

For more prosaic reasons, Dissenting Gothic began to become commonplace from the mid-19th century onwards; by that date, the trustees of independent chapels could more easily afford the high building costs associated with the neo-Gothic style.

For example, in Britain, the 1851 census recorded, for the first time, a greater number of people attending independent chapels than Anglican churches; the higher level of philanthropic donations and membership fees this provided, could now become reflected in more costly building designs.

Amongst these, northern European Brick Gothic was perhaps the best known alternative to English styles at that time; partly on account of its lower cost than stone blocks, but also its appeal to a section of nonconformist thought to whom highly extravagant and ornamented building styles and monuments were either too vulgar, or associated with mediaeval superstition - Spurgeon cautioned against the Gothic fashion leading to "hobgoblins and monsters on the outside of their preaching houses".