The Paris Cemetery Gatehouse, completed in 1862, is a rare surviving example of Gothic architecture in Kentucky and a very significant historic structure. John McMurtry, the Lexington builder and architect who introduced the Gothic style to Kentucky, had worked with New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis on Loudoun House in Lexington around 1847. McMurtry also designed and built Lexington’s Commentary Gatehouse around 1848 in the Gothic style, along with Christ Church Cathedral, but that gatehouse was demolished in 1899, the year he died. The Paris Cemetery Gatehouse remains as a memorial to McMurtry, which had been his stated goal for the Lexington gatehouse. Its Gothic design suited the natural landscaped cemetery style that was becoming popular in Kentucky in the 1840s. The structure has three Tudor arches, with a wider center opening for carriages and smaller side openings for pedestrians, anchored by end wings for cemetery offices. Its projecting center section, framed with four cross columns, is set at the corners of the two square, two-story cemetery office wings, and the entry is crowned by four elaborate cast-iron pinnacles that define the building’s vertical proportions. It stands as a fine example of Gothic architecture and as a cultural symbol of the importance of the cemetery.