, Thomas Jefferson's country retreat home in Bedford County, Virginia.American Federal architecture typically uses plain surfaces with attenuated detail, usually isolated in panels, tablets, and
friezes. It also had a flatter, smoother façade and rarely used
pilasters. It was most influenced by the interpretation of ancient
Roman architecture, fashionable after the unearthing of
Pompeii and
Herculaneum. The
bald eagle was a common symbol used in this style, with the
ellipse a frequent architectural motif. The classicizing manner of constructions and
town planning undertaken by the federal government was expressed in early federal projects of lighthouses, harbor buildings, universities, and hospitals. It can be seen in the rationalizing, urbanistic layout of
L'Enfant Plan of Washington and in the
Commissioners' Plan of 1811 in New York. The historic eastern part of
Bleecker Street in New York, between Broadway and
the Bowery, is home to Federal-style row houses at 7 to 13 and 21 to 25
Bleecker Street. The classicizing style of Federal architecture can especially be seen in the quintessential New England meeting house, with their lofty and complex towers by architects such as Lavius Fillmore and
Asher Benjamin. This American neoclassical high style was the idiom of America's first professional architects, such as
Charles Bulfinch and
Minard Lafever.
Robert Adam and
James Adam were leading influences through their books. ==Legacy of Federal architecture in Salem, Massachusetts==