What makes a house a Federal style?
Characteristics. Typically, a Federal-style house is a simple square or rectangular box, two or three stories high and two rooms deep. Some structures are more prominent, modified with projecting wings, attached dependencies, or both.
What defines Georgian architecture?
The Georgian style is highly variable, but marked by symmetry and proportion based on the classical architecture of Greece and Rome, as revived in Renaissance architecture. Ornament is also normally in the classical tradition, but typically restrained, and sometimes almost completely absent on the exterior.
What is the difference between Federal and colonial architecture?
Federal-style houses and Colonial-style houses are frequently confused for one another. While they share many features and principles, the main difference between the two is that the Federal style tends to add a little more ornateness and elegance, whereas the Colonial-style home is much simpler and utilitarian.
What is the difference between Georgian and colonial architecture?
In America, Georgian style architecture was referred to as colonial because they were a colony of England. In other words, the term is interchangeable.
What is the difference between Federal and Georgian?
The Federal style has many of the same elements of the Georgian style - symmetry, classical details and a side gabled roof - yet it is different in its ornamentation and sophistication. Federal details are more delicate, slender and finely drawn than their Georgian counterparts and may feature swags, garlands and urns.
What are 3 distinct features of the Georgian style?
Georgian houses are characterized by their: Rigid symmetry in building mass as well as window and door placement. Brick, stone, or stucco (brick is most predominantly used) Hip roofs, sometimes with dormers.
What does a Federal colonial house look like?
American Colonial homes are generally characterized by a square or rectangular facade, a central entrance and windows symmetrically placed on either side of the entrance. They are typically made of wood, stone or brick and will generally have uniformly sized doors and windows with shutters.
What is Federal style decorating?
Federal interiors featured muted wall colors, minimal trimwork painted white, and delicately carved or inlaid decoration. The only exceptions to the understated approach were the bold patriotic symbols—fighting eagles, chair backs shaped like shields, trophylike urns, and other celebrations of military pride.
What is the difference between Federal and Greek Revival?
The columns are often capped with Ionic or Doric capitals. An important difference between Federal and Greek Revival is the change in the location of the entrance, which moved from the side gable elevation to the gable end of the house. Also, a Greek Revival entrance is not always centered on the façade.
What makes a house a Georgian style?
A classic Georgian home is square or rectangular, made of brick, and features symmetrical windows, shutters, and columns. “Grand entrances were often embellished with pediments, arches, and columns, and interior spaces featured high ceilings, window headers, and crown molding,” says Muniz.
Why is Georgian architecture so nice?
Georgian architecture, named after England's first four King Georges, has been one of America's most popular styles since it arrived from Great Britain in the 17th century. Recognized by its order and symmetry, it has an understated elegance that provides a timeless, almost-quaint feel.
How can you tell the difference between a Victorian and Georgian house?
The Victorians had their own distinctive decorative elements which can distinguish a Victorian house from a Georgian one. These include stained glass panes in the windows, ornamented ridge tiles on the roof, shapely wooden barge boards beside the roof and the odd finial.
How can you tell if a house is Georgian?
What are the main characteristics of a Georgian property?Townhouses were arranged over three or four storeys.Sash windows with smaller panes – tall windows on the first two floors and smaller windows on the top storeys.Symmetrical flat exterior and balanced interior layout.More items...•
How can you tell the difference between a Victorian and Georgian house?
The Victorians had their own distinctive decorative elements which can distinguish a Victorian house from a Georgian one. These include stained glass panes in the windows, ornamented ridge tiles on the roof, shapely wooden barge boards beside the roof and the odd finial.
What does a Georgian style house look like?
A typical Georgian house in Pennsylvania is a stone or brick two-story building with a side-gabled roof and a symmetrical arrangement of windows and doors on the front façade.
What factors influenced Georgian interior design?
Georgian style at a glance incorporated: Roman-inspired elements such as niches and alcoves; use of the three Classical columns – Corinthian, Ionic and Doric; stonework, ironwork and marble with shield and urn motifs and carved statuary depicting Roman gods and goddesses; classical figures, shown in profile, and used ...
What is the exterior of a Georgian house?
Brick or clapboard with the rarer shingle siding are the usual exterior finishes. The classic double-hung window was first widely used with this style. English Georgian featured hip roofs while in North America the gable-end roof was more common.
What is the Georgian style house?
A Federal style brick house on Sheridan Boulevard. Note the small Palladian window above the elaborate entry typical of the style. Georgian architecture style was intended to reflect Renaissance ideals made popular by Sir Christopher Wren, Britain's most famous architect of the 17th century.
What were the Colonial styles of postwar homes?
Split foyer and split-level colonials were stripped of most Georgian style elements and incorporate many features of the modern Ranch style house. See Postwar Styles: Cape Cod, Colonial, and Ranch for more information on Postwar styles.
What are the characteristics of Georgian houses?
The use of classical elements such as columns and arches is typical of the Federal period. The front facade is symmetrical . The area to the right of the entry was a mirror image of the area to the left. This rigid symmetry is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Georgian houses in general and Federal architecture in particular.
What type of house was the White House?
High-style Georgian homes often contained an oval or round parlor, the most famous of which is the Oval Office in the White House — originally intended as a sitting room or parlor. The White House is a Georgian design. (For more information on the builder of the White House, see Building by Design: he Design-Build Concept .)
How was wood trim made in the Colonial Era?
In the Colonial Era, wood trim was made by hand. The process was labor-intensive and time-consuming. Decoration was expensive and used sparingly. By contrast, Revival houses were often richly embellished with highly decorated facades and elaborate pediments using inexpensive molding and trim mass-produced in factories.
How thick was the floor in the 19th century?
Windows were trimmed with a stool (inside sill) and apron. Floors in the 19th century were usually wide plank pine, often 1 1/2" to 2" thick laid without a subfloor and typically unfinished except for the occasional coat of wax.
What is Federal style architecture?
This classic architectural style is a form of Georgian style, the principle design of the colonial period.
What is the exterior of a Federal home?
The exteriors of most Federal homes are typically understated. While there are some ornate elements that incorporate brass and iron, the outside of a Federal home is fairly simple, and decoration is usually kept to the porch or entryway area.
What are Federal style homes made of?
Federal-style architecture materials differ by city and state. In many northern areas near the sea, homes are made primarily with clapboard, but in the city, brick is far more common. During the period when they were built, brick offered these urban homes a degree of fireproofing that wasn't as necessary in seaside homes.
Why do federal homes have dormers?
You'll also often find dormers placed on a Federal-style roof to help add natural light to upper floors and attic spaces.
How many stories are there in a federal home?
Most Federal homes are square or rectangular in shape and two or three stories high. While some Federal homes have since been modified with added wings and stories, traditionally Federal homes are only two rooms deep (but you may sometimes find oval or circular rooms as well).
Do federal homes need paint?
To preserve the hand-carved details and delicate elements, Federal homes often need updated paint jobs more often than newer homes. Modernizing a Federal home may be difficult. If you are hoping to cut through walls or tear down rooms, you'll probably want to steer clear of a Federal home.
Is federal architecture similar to colonial architecture?
But Federal architecture, while similar to colonial-style homes, has a few obvious differences that really sets it apart.
What is the difference between Georgian and Federal?
The Federal style has many of the same elements of the Georgian style - symmetry, classical details and a side gabled roof - yet it is different in its ornamentation and sophistication. Federal details are more delicate, slender and finely drawn than their Georgian counterparts and may feature swags, garlands and urns.
How to tell if a house is a Federal or Georgian?
The easiest way to identify a Federal style building from a Georgian one is to look for the elliptical fan light over the front door or the Palladian windows - not that those design features do not appear in later styles as well. The Federal house in Pennsylvania is usually a brick two or three story building.
What is the Federal style?
It is really a refinement of the Georgian style , which was popular in the years preceding the Federal style. Like the Georgian style, the Federal style is designed around center hall floor plan, or side hall for narrow row houses. The Federal style has many of the same elements of the Georgian style - symmetry, classical details and a side gabled roof - yet it is different in its ornamentation and sophistication. Federal details are more delicate, slender and finely drawn than their Georgian counterparts and may feature swags, garlands and urns. Also, more formal elements were introduced in the Federal style, such as the front door fanlight window, sometimes with flanking sidelights, and more elaborate door surrounds and porticos. The Federal style is also known for dramatic windows, three-part or Palladian windows with curved arches. Another outstanding - yet less common - Federal feature is the use of curving or polygonal window projections.
What are the elements of the Federal style?
Also, more formal elements were introduced in the Federal style, such as the front door fanlight window, sometimes with flanking sidelights, and more elaborate door surrounds and porticos. The Federal style is also known for dramatic windows, three-part or Palladian windows with curved arches.
How many panes are there in a double hung window?
Double hung windows with thin muntins separating the panes (6 panes over 6 most common)
What is Georgian architecture?
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover — George I, George II, George III, and George IV —who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830.
What are the two main styles of architecture that are considered to be Georgian?
The styles that resulted fall within several categories. In the mainstream of Georgian style were both Palladian architecture —and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie, which were the English-speaking world 's equivalent of European Rococo.
What is Georgian style?
The Georgian style is highly variable, but marked by symmetry and proportion based on the classical architecture of Greece and Rome, as revived in Renaissance architecture. Ornament is also normally in the classical tradition, but typically restrained, and sometimes almost completely absent on the exterior.
What was the semi detached house?
The late Georgian period saw the birth of the semi-detached house, planned systematically, as a suburban compromise between the terraced houses of the city and the detached "villas" further out, where land was cheaper. There had been occasional examples in town centres going back to medieval times. Most early suburban examples are large, and in what are now the outer fringes of Central London, but were then in areas being built up for the first time. Blackheath, Chalk Farm and St John's Wood are among the areas contesting being the original home of the semi. Sir John Summerson gave primacy to the Eyre Estate of St John's Wood. A plan for this exists dated 1794, where "the whole development consists of pairs of semi-detached houses, So far as I know, this is the first recorded scheme of the kind". In fact the French Wars put an end to this scheme, but when the development was finally built it retained the semi-detached form, "a revolution of striking significance and far-reaching effect".
What is the meaning of the term "Georgian"?
In the United States the term "Georgian" is generally used to describe all buildings from the period, regardless of style ; in Britain it is generally restricted to buildings that are "architectural in intention", and have stylistic characteristics that are typical of the period, though that covers a wide range.
When did Georgian style become a vernacular?
From the mid-18th century, Georgian styles were assimilated into an architectural vernacular that became part and parcel of the training of every architect, designer, builder, carpenter, mason and plasterer, from Edinburgh to Maryland.
When was Georgian Revival style revived?
The style was revived in the late 19th century in the United States as Colonial Revival architecture and in the early 20th century in Great Britain as Neo-Georgian architecture; in both it is also called Georgian Revival architecture. In the United States the term "Georgian" is generally used to describe all buildings from the period, ...
