 The Federal period of architecture (1790-1820) is so called because
its birth and the birth of our nation were more or less simultaneous. The style is
sometimes called Post-colonial or Adamesque-Federal.
 In 1784, a Scotsman named Robert Adam visited the ancient ruins and
excavations at Herculaneum in Italy. Mr. Adam and his brother made drawings of many
designs from the ruins and returned to classical conscious England to start a style that
the furniture designers, Mr. Sheraton and Mr. Chippendale, would further enrich. The
design elements consisted of wreaths, wheat sheaves, fans, festoons and other ancient
forms.
 Gable is the attic area
of the federal building. Entablature is a delicate horizontal woodwork. A molding is part
of a circle. Fanlights are a half moon shaped window over a door in the gable end. The
door of a Federal building may be crowned by an entablature. Gable ends may have
fanlights. Very stylish Federal buildings may have a Palladian window. This style came
from Ancient Rome. The people who had it first were the wealthy merchants. They were first
introduced in Greece and Rome, where monuments such as swags, garlands and urns were
added. |