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Federal 1790-1825
For want of a more descriptive term, the period
from the close of the Revolutionary War to the beginning of the
Greek Revival decades, circa 1825, is known as the Federal period.
In domestic design, rural examples are very similar to those built
in pre-revolutionary times, while houses built in prosperous cities
such as Boston, Providence, Salem and Portsmouth where subtlety
influenced by designs from post-revolutionary France. These house
plans emphasized large geometric massing, plain, flat wall surfaces
and delicate ornamentation drawn from Classical sources and confined
to door, window and cornice moldings. Brick, laid in Flemish bond,
was the favored building material, but many frame examples can
be found. These houses are usually of three stories and conceal
a nearly flat roof behind a balustrade set at the eaves. The five
bay facades have a centered entrance above which a Palladian window
may be set. Sidelights usually grace the front door which is crowned
with an elliptical fanlight. Windows are set widely apart and
are double hung sashes with small panes of glass in either a six-over-six
or a nine-over-six configuration. Lintels may be splayed and have
a centered keystone block. Exterior shutters are seen only in
rural houses; high style examples had internal shutters that folded
into the interior window jambs.
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The formal high-style Federal house was nearly
cubical with an almost flat roof. There is a leaded fanlight
over the door. Red brick with white trim was preferred and
many were built in New England's prosperous coastal cities
in the first decades of the nineteenth century. This is
the Loring-Emmerton house of 1818 in Salem, MA.
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The design of decorative details was taken from Classical mythology
and depicted on the interior plaster panels and moldings. These
designs came by way of the English brothers Adam and are seen
in the blue and green pastels made popular by Josiah Wedgewood.
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This home in Brooklyn, CT is typical of most
Federal homes, showing an entrance with an elliptical fanlight
and sidelights, a Palladian window above, and corner pilasters.
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Charles Bullfinch was the best known architect of this period
in New England. While he transformed colonial Boston into the
city we recognize today, Samuel McIntire did the same in the Salem
area, and John Holden Green introduced the new taste to Providence.
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Federal architects were influenced by French
fashion. The plain walls and the oval rooms shown here at
the Gore residence in Waltham, MA were, in fact, designed
by a French architect.
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Rural house designs are usually two story, five
bay and end gabled with a centered entrance. But, evidence of
a Federal, rather than Georgian date of construction include lighter,
more delicate moldings, slender, attenuated Classical columns
and pilasters and a centrally located Palladian window or elliptical
fanlight. An attached carriage house is not uncommon, having elliptical
arches over each of several stalls.
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In cities, the Federal house adapted easily to row house design.
Here, in Fitchburg, MA, a series of four show the changes
made by separate owners. |
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This
Cape Cod form was built around 1810 in Douglas, MA. It is
Federal in style because of the plain walls, centered entrance
with transom lights above, and relatively large windows. |
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POBox
1046,
