The earliest architectural style most commonly encountered in Kentucky is the Federal style. Classified as ranging from 1780 to 1820 nationally, it persisted in the Commonwealth until around 1840. Compared with the Greek Revival style, which succeeded the Federal in popularity, characteristics of the latter style can seem…severe. Restraint is one of the hallmarks of the style in Kentucky, and many of the surviving examples tend to be brick buildings.
A side-passage Federal style townhouse in Old Washington, Mason County, Kentucky.
Other features of the Federal style in Kentucky include an emphasis on symmetrical composition, with double-hung sash windows with six-over-six, nine-over-nine and twelve-over-twelve configurations. Muntins are typically thin, and lintels and sills are plain and restrained (there’s that word again!).
The Jacob Warner House, a 1.5 story central passage Federal style house, has jackarches over the windows and doors on the facade. Bath County, Kentucky.
Jackarches are often used over openings on the exterior – and are sometimes the only hint of a “decorative” feature of the facade of a Federal house (although obviously the jackarch is also utilitarian).
The Champion-Shepherdson Building, circa 1817, was constructed as a combination commercial/residential building. Princeton, Caldwell County, Kentucky.
Doorways might feature transoms, or fanlights, with narrow moldings.
This incredible doorway, the main entrance to the James McKee stone house in Millersburg, Bourbon County, Kentucky,dates to 1791 and is attributed to local builder John Metcalfe.
Federal-style buildings in the Commonwealth are typically rectangular or square in plan. Floor plans employed include hall-parlor, side-passage and central passage (although this is by no mean the rule – there are some single pen log houses in Kentucky with spectacular Federal woodwork on the interior).
A Federal-style rowhouse in Augusta, Bracken County, Kentucky.
Many Federal-style dwellings in Kentucky are brick, laid in Flemish bond, with a side-gable roof.
The doorway of Clay Hill, circa 1812, attributed to Matthew Lowery. Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky.
My favorite aspect of the Federal style lies not on the exterior, but on the interior – which is characterized by elegant lines – and unlike the Greek Revival style – human-scale proportions.*
A chair rail is visible in the heated upper rooms of the Jacob Warner House in Bath County, Kentucky.
Baseboards are not very high, maybe four to six inches; chair rails are common; beaded edges are featured on windows, cupboards, and doors; and mantles are delicate and decidely not over-the-top.
This circa 1830-32 dwelling is a transitional Federal/Greek Revival house, but the central hallway showcases a lovely Federal-style stairway. Mercer County, Kentucky.
Federal style mantle, Mercer County, Kentucky. Photograph by William J. Macintire.
The Federal style marked the “end” of Kentucky’s pioneer days, and as it was overtaken by the oft-overblown proportions of the Greek Revival style, many Federal style dwellings were modified or updated with more current and trendy styles. I was drawn to the simplicity of the lines of the Federal style even as a child, and it remains one of my favorites today.
There are many, many more Federal-style buildings I could have shared – especially some high-style examples – but I hope this post serves as a basic introduction to the first nationally popular style employed across Kentucky.
*The Greek Revival style is fabulous – but sometimes I feel dwarfed by the 14 foot ceilings, massive baseboards, and heavy woodwork…not to mention the temple-front portico…
You touched on it with some of your photographs, but I feel one of the defining characteristics of high-style Federal houses is the fanlight over the front entrance. Builders really tended to go wild with the front entrance and show off. Clay Hill and the James McKee House are good examples, both cited by Clay Lancaster in Antebellum Architecture of Kentucky, but when I think of Federal-era architecture, the fanlight entrances to the Hunt-Morgan House and Rose Hill (Brand House), both in Lexington, spring to mind. Both of those houses are described by Lancaster as being part of the “Geometric Phase” of Federal architecture, when Kentucky builders broke the square mold and utilized inventive floor plans, liberally embellished with Federal detailing. But those “Geometric” buildings are exceptions to what you outlined and generally see.
On another note, has that rowhouse in Augusta had its second-floor windows replaced with vinyl ones? They look very flat and incongruous. If they have been replaced, then whoever did it needs to be taken out back and birched.
I think those are replacement windows, sadly. And you are quite right – I chose not to focus so much on “high style” Federal – personal preference only, as I love the little plain ones tucked away in out-of-the-way places.
When I purchased my 1839 Federal style farmhouse (in Ohio) I did some research and somewhere read the fanciness (or plainness) of the mantles told of the owners wealth. Interesting.
The stones of the James McKee home are lovely. The masonry around the doorway appears to have been disrupted. There in the 2nd storey wall I see a random pattern & don’t know the proper terms for this spacing. Are there short laps placed randomly, as well as random courses of a more narrow stone? Or is this the camera angle.
You once wrote of small triangular, sloping closures at the end of a gable (as if for modesty!). I cannot remember what they are called – we just bought a house with four. The name seemed to be Elizabethan. We found a 1910 seaside bungalow that hasn’t been appreciably altered.