Tantania Brown
Art History
Old Gothic
The building I was looking at today reminded me of the old gothic era. The building was
made in the 1990’s the architect is unknown. The structure is made of bricks, wood and
cement. They are all different colors but when standing back they blend together and make it
brown. It is an older building that I believe was inspired by the Roman Gothic period. Under the
windows there are brown X’s with wood which reminds me of the gothic structure. The building
is pretty big and very simple in color but when going close it becomes more complex.
The colors are darker colors, even the yellow isn’t bright but more of a brown color. The
gothic structures are very dark colors of silver, black, or brown just like this building. I noticed
the colors all have a base of brown in them to bring the color darker. Even the bricks are
painted to give the effect of color. When standing close to the building I notice a lot of chipped
paint and broken bricks which gives me the illusion of older and rugged building. Some of the
bricks are painted red and some are painted yellow, also some remain brown. The colors
alternate back and forth at the bottom of the building and stop toward the middle because the
top half of the building is made of some wood and cement material. This defiantly gives the
build some of what I call flavor, but it still remains symmetrical. This entire building is very
symmetrical so if you were to cut it in half both side would be the same. If you were to take the
top off of the bottom everything is evened out.
The shapes on this building are very pointy and show the gothic roman look. I noticed
the building because of the X’s under the windows. It is very unique and right when I seen the
building I was thinking about the gothic era. There is a pointy roof, which I believe is made to let
the rain fall off the roof so the roof doesn’t cave in. also there are two pillars by the door that
are made of wood and are brown. There is a smaller roof above the door that is pointy as well.
The windows are shaped as squares on top and on the sides they are circles. The
windows with circles have X’s on them as the window pane. When looking at the windows I
noticed there was a very small design on the window pane. There were swirls of gold and
brown but they were very small and unable to see unless you are very close. Then looking at
the bottom circle windows I seen a bit of red on the window pane which looked like a signature
or writing of some sort. I couldn’t figure out what is said or even if it was letters. The windows
looked very old and unattended they were turning yellowish unless that is the color they were
originally made.
The bricks on the building were stacked in a particular way. They were not directly on
top of each other but stacked in a way to keep the building sturdy. In between the bricks is
cement that is painted a yellowish brown color. Everything on this building is painted to give
the illusion of brown when standing far back. The bricks under the window are facing out wards
instead of the normal stacking form. I believe they are sitting outward because they are used as
a shelf under the window so when someone is looking out they can rest their arms. It is very
unique and ads a different feel to the building. I have never seen a building do anything like that
and it saves money as well. Instead of creating a whole new window ledge outside of the
window they just made the bricks face a different way.
I have noticed when standing back the building has a feature of looking like a pointy,
skinny church. I say that because churches always have a very pointy roof in the front. The pillar
type wood that holds the smaller roof up is made of wood and is painted brown. They are not
very big, they are actally smaller then I thought they would be. With the pillar wood holding up
the smaller roof it gives the illusion of a square entrance. The pillars are straight lines and there
are two of them on each side so you walk in between them to enter the building.
The ground closes to the building is wood chips and the rest of the land is grass with a
walk way of coarse. The woodchips add to the building because of the wood type feeling you
get when you look at it. Everything that is an added extra on the building is made of wood for
example the pillars, the X’s under the window, the numbers underneath the smaller roof, and
the wood chips on the ground below. All though there are bricks on the building because they
look brown when standing back they give the illusion of wood as well.
The door is a normal size door but it looks bigger than it is because the wood above the
door gives the illusion of it continuing up but when you open it you can tell its not as big as it
seems. I like that illusion because it makes the building resemble a castle of some sort. I would
like to have that illusion put on my house to make my door look bigger. Its not often you see
that illusion of a bigger door so I found that very nice.
This art interested me because of how different everything is and how they use what
they have to make things. I like how the bricks are painted yellow and red but when stepping
back they become brown and blend. The X’s under the window are very nice, never have I seen
something like that in salt lake or even currently. The artist who designed this building must
have put a lot of thought into it and it shows when observing the art. I never knew how much
though could go in to a design of a building. Living now a days a lot of the building I see
everyday are the same or are all built very square with no circles or X’s around. Seeing a
building that has a unique structure gives a bit of flavor to a boring city. I now enjoy buildings
and notice all the little things about them when in the car riding around. I can tell when
buildings were inspired by different eras, it is nice to see my same world in a new light.