The Advantages of Federal Style Houses

Beauty

• Perhaps the most advantageous characteristic of the Federal style home is its striking beauty in symmetry. "The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree," pondered Aristotle. The Federal style certainly epitomizes the fine lines, ordered decor and attractive symmetry beloved since the Classical Age. The Federal home is typically rectangular, clad in clapboards or brick with large, shuttered windows. The front door often features an elliptical fanlight and sidelights with a curvacious Palladian window overlooking the second story. Heavy, Greek-style molding and delicate ionic pilasters trim the doors and windows. Inside and out, the Federal style exudes a confident gracefulness remniscient of the youthful vigor and optimism of a blossoming new nation.

Adaptability

• A Federal floor plan typically features a large central hall flanked by larger, spacious rooms. Historically, the formal rooms -- parlor, sitting room and dining room -- were situated toward the front of the house while the kitchen and bedrooms were tucked to the back or upstairs. The open floor plan and airy rooms are well suited for today's lifestyle, affording space for large televisions, furniture sets, computers and other appliances common in the modern age. An abundance of fresh air and natural light streams enthusiastically from the exceptionally tall windows, lending a bright and cheery atmosphere with little electrical effort.

Structure

• Many traditional Federal style homes favor post and beam framing instead of the balloon and platform framing that became common in the 19th and 20th centuries. Post and beam construction uses large timbers to create open, spacious rooms with maximum structural integrity. Many Federal style homes also sport moderately-pitched side-gabled or hipped roofs, a pleasing low-maintenance alternative to the dangerous steeply-pitched roof and impractical flat roof styles. Wide staircases, a large hall and kitchen and very large rooms are well suited for modern needs.

Examples

• Countless, fine examples of gorgeous Federal style homes abound throughout the U.S. One of the most recognizable is Monticello, President Thomas Jefferson's home and architectural work of art. Other examples include the Cotting Smith house of Salem, Massachusetts; the Captain Henry Taber House of New Bedford, Massachusetts; the Stephen Williams House of Savannah, Georgia; the Davenpost House of Savannah, Georgia; and countless farmhouses across the nation. Architect Charles Bulfinch's design for the State House in Boston, Massachusetts, is a fine example of extravagant Federal style for public buildings, with its striking bilateral symmetry and rounded Palladian windows.