Cherokee Gothic is a term coined by Frank Lloyd Wright for a

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

architectural style An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, for ...

used on the campus of the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

. The term was invented by Wright while on a tour of the school's grounds, and, when coined, applied to Bizzell Memorial Library and Evans Hall. These buildings combined conventional Gothic and Native American elements. The buildings were constructed in dark and pale bricks and featured a decorative Gothic facade with light-gray stone buttresses and statues. More recently, new construction under former university president

David Boren David Lyle Boren (April 21, 1941 – February 20, 2025) was an American lawyer and politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and thr ...

have been designed to resemble and evoke the earlier Cherokee Gothic buildings. Buildings in the style resemble Collegiate Gothic structures found on other campuses, although they are made from brick and light stone.

References

Gothic Revival architecture in Oklahoma University of Oklahoma campus Cherokee in popular culture {{architecture-stub