I Lived in the House of American Gothic Painting

choi

Beth M Howard, Living in a 'Gothic;' A writer rented the home made famous by Grant Wood's painting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/ ... hitney-museum-.html

Note:
(a) Beth M Howard
https://bethmhoward.com

(b) the house in "Grant Wood's [1930] 'American Gothic' painting [in the collection of Art Institute of Chicago] * * * [is] located in Eldon, Iowa (pop. 900), that it's owned by the State Historical Society [a state agency] * * * In 1930, Grant Wood traveled to Eldon, not far from the Missouri border, with his artist friend, John Sharp, who was from the tiny rural burg — a busy railroad hub at that time. They drove past a small farmhouse on the edge of town. It was a humble cottage in the Carpenter Gothic style, typical for that era with one exception: beneath the steeply pitched roof was a pointed-arch window normally found adorning churches. Wood was amused by what he deemed a pretentious detail
(i) Eldon, Iowa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldon,_Iowa
(a city; view map)

Iowa's southern neighbor is Missouri.
(ii) Carpenter Gothic. The Old House Web, undated
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/archi ... hic-1840-1870.shtml
("A form Gothic Revival, the Carpenter Gothic style in America grew out of a need for quickly built houses -- and the desire for fanciful details. The new balloon framing technique and the invention of steam powered scroll saws, which allowed for the mass production of intricate mouldings, led to a proliferation of pattern books devoted to 'country cottages' both here and in England.  These homes weren't intended to be castles or cathedrals, but as English architect John White wrote in his Rural Architecture: Ornamental Cottages and Villas in 1845, 'of such a character as to accommodate the various ranks of society, the price being so moderate as to bring it within the reach of the humblest mechanic.'  In England, the [Gothic Revival] style reflected a resurgence in interest on the Gothic stone structures of the Middle Ages, and Gothic Revival homes and churches were often constructed of brick and stone. In the United States, Yankee ingenuity and an abundance of fine lumber led to the interpretation of details in wood, and the style became known as Carpenter Gothic")

scroll saw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scroll_saw
(The scroll saw's name derives from its traditional use in making scrollwork, sculptural ornaments which prominently featured scroll-head designs)
(iii)
(A) Gothic Revival
* Gothic Revival: "in the United States and Great Britain. Only isolated examples of the style are to be found on the [European] Continent." Encyclopaedia Britannica, online, undated.
* Gothic Revival Style 1830 - 1860. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, Aug 26, 2015.
www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/comm ... gothic-revival.html
(B) Gothic architecture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture
(in Europe during the High and Late Middle Ages; section 1 Terminology: "what truly is Gothic" is not definite)

What is definitive is that style replaced classical architecture (Greek and Roman).
(iv) For "pointed-arch window," see lancet window
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_window
("is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the 'lancet' [etymology: diminutive of lance; Oxforddictionaries.com] name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period") (citation omitted)
(v) In the left lower corner of previous Wiki page is a photo whose caption reads: "Late 13th century Y tracery in lancet windows of chancel of St Helen's church, Barnoldby le Beck, Lincolnshire, England"

A tracery was originally stonework (in Gothic architecture), but later referred to a y pattern.
(A) tracery (n):
"1: ornamental stone openwork, typically in the upper part of a Gothic window
1.1 [count noun] a delicate branching pattern" (bracket original)
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/tracery
(B) tracery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracery
(showing all kinds of stonework)

choi

(c)
(i) "Using his sister, Nan, and his dentist, Dr Byron McKeeby, as the models, he created a pair of Midwestern characters [father and daughter, not husband and wife]"

Google Byron McKeeby and you will see for yourself what he look like, as well as Nan (short for Nancy) Wood.
(ii) The painting is showcased in "the current consideration of Wood's career at the Whitney Museum of American Art."
(A) Whitney Museum of American Art
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art
(B) Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables. Whitney Museum of American Art, Mar 2 - June 10, 2018.
(iii) the house in the painting: "Built in 1881, ten years before Grant Wood [1891-1942] was born"
(iv) about the house again: "the front porch and its carved posts, the screen door, the vertical lines of its board and batten siding, the roof shingles, and, of course, the churchy window. * * * At 700 square feet [65 square meters], it was the ultimate Tiny House, like a beach cottage with a view of a cornfield instead of an ocean."

batten
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batten#Board-and-batten
(section 1.1 Board-and-batten)

Compare batten down the hatches. The Phrase Finder, undated.
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/batten-down-the-hatches.html
(v) about the house: rent was "$250 a month [2010-2014]"
(vi) the upstairs Gothic window, for starters, reaching nearly six feet from floor to ceiling. It is bolted shut, unlike the identical Gothic window on the back side of the house, which is hinged to allow the top half to fold down and then swing open in order to move furniture in and out. Even at 5 foot 5, I had to duck when climbing the stairs.

I can not imagine why. Search images.google.com with (Gothic window open) and the results show Gothic windows can be opened as -- without having been folded first.

(d) "By day, a steady stream of tourists came, posing for pictures (and peeking in the windows) dressed in the free costumes provided by the visitor center — calico smocks with cameos, overalls and black jackets, even the spectacles — and wielding pitchforks of all sizes. They brought their own props, which included a prized Harley Davidson, a fleet of Stanley steam cars, and a herd of llamas. It was the centerpiece of a Klingon calendar shoot"
(i) A cameo sit in between the white collar of the daughter.
(ii) Google and only this NYT article uses "calico smock" to describe the brownish clothing over the daughter's black dress. A few articles called it a "rickrack-trimmed apron."
(A) calico
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico
(The [cotton] fabric was originally from the city of Calicut in southwestern India)
(B) frock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smock
(may refer to "Smock-frock, a coatlike outer garment, often worn to protect the clothes")
(iii) overall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overall

was invented in US.
(iv) pitchfork
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitchfork
(In Europe, the pitchfork was first used in the early Middle Ages)
(v) Stanley Motor Carriage Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Motor_Carriage_Company
(1902 - 1924; Headquarters Watertown (Boston suburb), MA )
(vi) Klingon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon
(photos; "They were named after Lieutenant Wilbur Clingan")

(e)
(i) "I pointed out the odd half-length bathtub in the sliver of a bathroom, an improvement from the original outhouse. I warned guests to watch out for the square nails poking up from the floorboards, the reason I kept a hammer at the ready."

American Gothic House: It Was a Magical Four Years. The World Needs More Pie (Beth M Howard's blog), Sept 17, 2014
https://theworldneedsmorepie.blo ... it-was-magical.html
(caption of a photo: "The world's smallest bathtub. But by god, I used it! Better than nothing. It required doing yoga poses to get your torso wet")

I do not know why the pie in the title is singular.

(ii) "six-foot-long bull snakes living in its recesses (there were close encounters in the bathroom and the basement). They are nonvenomous, excellent mouse catchers, and they are illegal to kill in Iowa. If you can catch them."

bullsnake
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullsnake
(Pituophis catenifer sayi)

(f) caption of an online photo that also appears in print: "Interior view of the second floor, looking past the tiny built-in closet to the famous Gothic window featured in the Grant Wood painting. Ms. Howard slept next to the window. Credit Beth M. Howard"

The photo is overexposed, so much so that the Y-shaped tracery (in both front and back windows) can not be seen.