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04 · Classical & Gothic Revivals

Federal

c. 1780–1830

Refined American Georgian: oval fanlights over doors, slender proportions, and delicate garland ornament.

Look for

Fanlight Symmetrical facade Sash window
Massachusetts State House, Boston: an example of Federal architecture
Massachusetts State House, Boston. Photo: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0
Hamilton Hall, Salem, Massachusetts
Hamilton Hall Salem, Massachusetts · Fletcher6, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Octagon House, Washington, D.C.
The Octagon House Washington, D.C. · ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0
Gore Place, Waltham, Massachusetts
Gore Place Waltham, Massachusetts · Daderot at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Nathaniel Russell House, Charleston, South Carolina
Nathaniel Russell House Charleston, South Carolina · Dima Sergiyenko; Please attribute this image as the work of "DiscoverWithDima.", CC BY-SA 4.0

what it is

Federal is the American classical style of about 1780 to 1830, the first decades after independence. Houses keep the symmetrical, rectangular form of Georgian buildings but have flatter, smoother facades, narrower window bars and more slender columns and moldings. Over the front door there is usually an elliptical fanlight (a half-oval window), often with narrow windows called sidelights on each side. Ornament is small and set in panels: garlands, urns and the American eagle. Inside, oval and bow-ended rooms are common.

Charles Bulfinch's Massachusetts State House in Boston (1795-1798) has a dome, gilded since 1874, over a columned front. In Salem, Massachusetts, the carver and builder Samuel McIntire built the Gardner-Pingree House (1804). William Thornton's Octagon in Washington (1799) actually has six sides, fitted to an irregular corner lot; James Madison lived there after the British burned the White House in 1814. Charleston's Nathaniel Russell House (1803-1808) has a cantilevered spiral staircase and an oval room on each floor.

how to spot one

Fanlight A half-round or half-oval window above a door, divided by bars that radiate from the bottom center. It lights the entrance hall of Georgian and Federal houses. Symmetrical facade A facade, or main front, whose left and right halves mirror each other, usually with the main door at the center. It is standard on Georgian, Federal, Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts buildings. Sash window A window made of one or more glass-filled frames, called sashes, that slide up and down in grooves. It is standard on Georgian and Federal houses and common on Victorian buildings.

Also look for

PedimentDentil moldingBalustradePilaster

history

The Federal style drew on the work of the Scottish architect Robert Adam and his brother James, whose published designs spread a lighter version of Roman decoration than earlier Georgian work. American builders adopted it after the Revolution, and it was most common from 1785 to 1815. Bulfinch in Boston and McIntire in Salem were its leading designers in New England. Asher Benjamin's The Country Builder's Assistant (1797), the first architecture book written by an American architect, gave carpenters Federal details for doorways, mantels and staircases.

Federal houses, churches and public buildings went up in the seaport towns of the East Coast and in the new capital at Washington. Benjamin's later books moved from Federal to Greek Revival designs, and from the 1820s Greek Revival temple fronts replaced Federal facades in new buildings. Greek Revival remained the leading American style into the 1850s. Large groups of Federal buildings survive in Salem, whose Samuel McIntire Historic District contains 407 buildings, on Boston's Beacon Hill and in Charleston.

where to find it

Salem and Boston's Beacon Hill in Massachusetts, Charleston's historic district, and the Octagon House in Washington.

easy to confuse with

Royal Crescent, an example of Georgian Georgian Disciplined brick symmetry: sash windows in even rows, a paneled door with a fan shaped window above, and quiet classical trim. Second Bank of the United States, an example of Greek Revival Greek Revival The Greek temple front reborn: full-height columns, a wide plain band above them, and a low triangular gable. Royal Pavilion, an example of Regency Regency British urban elegance: creamy painted stucco terraces, bow windows, and lacy iron balconies.