Editing Federal Style Architecture (section)

== Civic Buildings ==

Federal architecture served the new nation's governmental needs in Philadelphia, which remained the national capital until 1800. Congress Hall, completed in 1789 next to Independence Hall, housed the United States Congress during the 1790s and displays restrained Federal classicism appropriate to republican government. The building's interior, with its chambers for Senate and House of Representatives, featured Federal ornament that balanced dignity with democratic simplicity. County Court House (later City Hall), on the opposite side of Independence Hall, provided architectural symmetry while demonstrating Federal principles in civic context.<ref name="tatum"/>

Library Hall, built in 1789-90 to house the Library Company of Philadelphia, presented a Federal facade on Fifth Street that balanced Georgian traditions with new refinements. First Bank of the United States, while primarily Neoclassical in its temple-front design, incorporated Federal elements that marked the transition between styles. These civic buildings established precedents for American governmental architecture, their restrained classicism suggesting that democratic institutions required neither monarchical grandeur nor revolutionary plainness.<ref name="moss"/>