. from passion to insanity" ('the Eighteenth Century," Internet). These "sublime" qualities are best expressed in Horace Walpole's magnificent Strawberry Hill residence in Twickenham, built between 1749 and 1777. As compared to Blenheim Palace, this structure is pure "Gothick" with its turrets, towers, battlements, galleries and corridors. In fact, Horace Walpole is credited with creating the Gothic style in English literature with his novel the Castle of Otranto, published in 1764.

Of course, many of the architectural features of this structure are in actuality only pseudo-Gothic representations, due to Walpole's immense imagination and desire for a house that reflected his literary tastes in Gothic Romanticism. Overall, Walpole's fascination with everything Gothic was to be highly influential in the years to come, especially when the period known as Neoclassicism emerged in the mid 18th century in Europe.

STUART'S SHAM GOTHIC RUIN:

During the early days of the Romantic Period, architects became increasingly interested in decorating their Gothic structures with all sorts of embellishments, such as gardens, random copses of trees, rustic bridges and winding, replica streams with replicas of period architecture. One typical location is the gardens at Hagley Park, where a sham (i.e. fake)...

At first glance, this structure reminds the viewer of an ancient tower straight out of King Arthur, with its high, latticed Gothic windows and stone battlements at the top. As John Summerson so astutely points out, "This shame Gothic ruin at Hagley Park, one of many similar structures created in the mid 18th century, represents the seminal interests of British architects in the Gothic and reminds all passerbys that the Gothic is supreme and wonderful and should be honored by all citizens" (1975, 245). Thus, all of these structures stand as exemplary examples of the Gothic style in the 18th century and continue to impress upon us the idea that what is considered as "natural" may not be so in the eyes of those who adhere to the ideals of classic Greek and Roman architecture which was to become so prominent in the next artistic period known as Neoclassicism.
References

Summerson, John. (1975). Architecture in Britain, 1530 to 1830. London: Constable Press.

The Eighteenth Century." Internet. 2006. Retrieved at http://www.pitt.edu / tokerism/0040/syl/src1120.html.

Wedd, George M. (September 1997). "The Gothic Revival Revisited." The Contemporary

Review. Vol. 271 issue 1580, 143.