Federal Architecture

By Pierce Fryar

History

Main time Period: 1780-1840

The Federal style had definite philosophical

ties to the concept of Rome as the republic
that the new American country thought it
reflected.

Locations

All along the Eastern Seaboard, from

Provincetown, Massachusetts, to Savannah,
Georgia.

Distinctive features

Box shape

Usually two to three rooms deep with a symmetrical

arrangement of doors and windows, especially on the front

Additions to the sides and rear are common.

In the southern U.S., or in urban row house variations,

these homes tend to be built with brick.

Federal houses in the northern U.S. tend to be built with

clapboard siding, often painted white with details like doors
and shutters painted black.

Double Hung Windows

Typically with six panes

per sash

Windows are
symmetrically
arranged around a
central door

Common window
configuration is five on
the second story and
four on the first

Palladian windows

Named after Venetian

Renaissance architect
Andrea Palladio

Three-part windows with a

central light capped by a
semicircular fanlight and a
pair of sidelights

They typically appear either

on the second floor
centered over the front door
or in front or side gables.

A Cornice

Federal-style homes
typically emphasize
the cornice

Horizontal trim that

marks the crown of a
building element, like a
wall or a window

Decorative molding,
most typically dentils
or blocklike projections.

Visual aspects

Neutral colors
Horizontal lines

Regular rhythm in windows

Horizontal formal balance

Interior

Creative floor plans with elliptical, rounded rooms

and domed or arched ceilings

Graceful decorative ornament carved in wood or cast

in plaster applied to mantels, walls, ceilings, etc.

Curved open staircases that included classically

decorated pediments and pilasters

Decorative motifs include: swags, garlands, urns, and

classical geometric patterns

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson suggested the Maison Carre and used it

as the model for the Capitol Building at Richmond
Virginia

TheUniversity of Virginia was Jeffersons greatest

Federal-style project. The rotunda, or library, of the
university was derived from the Pantheon in Rome.

By his official position as president of the United

States, got the project for a new Federal-style
capital city under way.

Benjamin Latrobe

Built the Roman

Catholic cathedral of
Baltimore

Conclusion

The people reflected in my architecture style would be mostly

rural white men, slavery still existed in most of the states

An advantage of the federal style was it was a prestigious

style, and often represented wealth, it was also easy to
construct. A disadvantages was it was very expensive to build

The cape cod has similar shapes and features.

An architectural style that is opposite or closest to opposite

would be modern, due to the materials (concrete, steel, and
glass) and also because modern almost always has horizontal
emphasis or curved lines, and is never formally balanced.