If you're at all familiar with the artist Grant Wood's painting "American Gothic", here's a photo of the actual house with the Gothic window that was used as the backdrop for that famous painting.  It is now a state historical site in the small (and I do mean small) town of Eldon in Southeast Iowa.  Eldon is about 15 miles southeast of Ottumwa, Iowa and used to be a major yard for the long gone Rock Island Railroad. 

 

Note the statues of the old farmer and his daughter in front of the house to the right, much like the old couple in the painting.  The woman in the painting was actually Grant Wood's sister, Nan.  And the old man was the family dentist.

 

Enjoy.

As much as the painting is lampooned and misappropriated, I've always liked it.

 

I've had a long-time love for those Carpenter Gothic houses, too, with their steeply-pitched roof lines and vertical board-and-batten siding. Most often they're timber-framed like a barn or farm shed; that's the reason for the vertical siding.

 

There's one across the road from the place where I grew up, although the casual passer-by would never notice. It's been added onto and was covered over with stucco in the 1920s, with fake framing hiding the arch of the gothic window in the front gable. I never knew until I saw it from the inside.

wow pretty cool, the real house is still around.

 

rob would that be a zinc roof on the left side?

... rob would that be a zinc roof on the left side?

 

Possibly (zinc-coated steel). It's more likely terne metal, steel coated with an alloy of lead and zinc. Terne roofs need to be painted, but with proper maintenance they can last a hundred years. Terne roofing is still available for historic preservation work.

This is both interesting and creepy....I could only imagine how odd this would look to an outsider lost in the middle of nowhere, and then driving past a creepy looking house with two figures in front of it :-o

It's quite the tourist attraction, despite the spookiness of the statues.

 

BTW:  Here's the original painting:

 

Maybe we ought to have a caption contest?  Here's my entry:

 

"I told you once.  We ain't buyin' what you're sellin'. So get lost or I'll take this pitchfork and....."

"The chillen been out for years now and we need some help 'round the house.....there are some cattle 'round back and the hay is next to the shed.  Take real good care of 'em for us and they'll be a good supper in it for ya."