Residential Architecture Snapshot: Federal

Federal-style architecture dates from the late 1700s and coincided with a reawakening of interest in classical Greek and Roman culture. Builders began to add swags, garlands, elliptical windows, and other decorative details to rectangular Georgian houses. The style that emerged resembles Georgian, but is more delicate and more formal. Many Federal-style homes have an arched Palladian window on the second story above the front door. The front door usually has sidelights and a semicircular fanlight. Federal-style homes are often called "Adam" after the English brothers who popularized the style.

The main floor windows are usually up off of the street level so the well-to-do homeowners weren't forced to look at and be on the same level as the common street-dwellers. This style of home can be found in parts of Capitol Hill and Queen Anne but also scattered through the city of Seattle.

Residential Architecture Snapshot: The Tudor

With so many differing styles of residential architecture out there, I will periodically feature styles commonly seen in Seattle. Most styles are not native to this area. As people moved west, they brought their building knowledge and appetite for home styles from their hometowns.

The Tudor:

This architecture style was popular in the 1920s and 1930s and continues to be a mainstay in suburbs across the United States. The defining characteristics are half-timbering on bay windows and upper floors, and facades that are dominated by one or more steeply pitched cross gables. Patterned brick or stone walls are common, as are rounded doorways, multi-paned casement windows, small porches. Tudors are highly desired in the Seattle area, however their floor plans often prove to be impractical. The steep pitched rooves and relatively small footprint (in Seattle neighborhoods) don't allow for much room inside. But people fall in love with their curb appeal and usually fork out the money to live in them. Seattle tudors are often all brick and have a little bend near the bottom of the roofline.