GEORGIAN COLONIAL • True to the Colonial tradition of simplicity • Brick or stucco box with symmetrically arranged small-paned double-hung sash windows, often with ornamental shutters, framing a central entrance • Hip or gable roof with dormer windows • Classical ornamentation around the door and at the cornice • Porches at either end, providing sheltered outdoor spaces

Nestled just east of Tenth Avenue East, one of north Capitol Hill's busy arterials, Federal Avenue East is one of the city's most "stylish" streets. It is chock full of beautiful houses designed by these local architects in almost every imaginable traditional style popular in America through the first quarter of the 20th century.

First and foremost, Federal is a street of "revivals." Architects looked back to earlier house forms and embellishments and created distinguished, elegantly proportioned buildings to appeal to the growing and more affluent middle class. New England, Southern, Spanish and Dutch Colonial shared the avenue with half-timbered English Tudor, Norman and French Provincial manor, English country cottage and Mediterranean villa. At the same time, large Craftsman-style homes made inroads into the streetscape, their rustic informality contrasting with their more pedigreed neighbors. Another popular, less "high-style" style, the Classic Box or American foursquare, also shows itself on the avenue. But it is far more common in the subdivisions east of Volunteer Park.

SPANISH COLONIAL AND MEDITERRANEAN REVIVAL • Low, elongated form with simplified façades that offer elegant informality in its elevations and plans • Frequent use of stucco with selective use of ornament • Wide eaves of low-hip roof protect stucco walls • Engaged columns and Roman arched window and door treatments • Red and green tile roofs are common, as is use of wrought iron

While contemporary buildings intrude here and there, a stroll along beautifully manicured Federal Avenue East is, for the most part, hardly different from what it must have been like back in 1930. If you want to know "What style is it?" you can start with a comparison of the popular revival styles, shown here with is a list of the style's common elements. You can also consult several excellent books on the subject:

"The American House" by Mary Mix Foley (Harper and Row, New York, 1980); "A Field Guide to American Houses" by Virginia and Lee McAlester (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1986); "American Shelter" by Lester Walker (Overlook Press, New York, 1981); "What Style Is It? A Guide to American Architecture" by John Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers, Jr., and Nancy Schwartz (National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1983).

FRENCH OR NORMANDY • Inspired by picturesque French farmhouses and more formal houses in the province of Normandy but sharing characteristics with English Tudor buildings • Rambling, asymmetrical house form gives appearance of having been added to over years • Steeply pitched roofs with gabled and shed dormer windows • Round towers with conical roofs, usually serving as stair or entrance towers, resemble storybook castles

DUTCH COLONIAL VARIANT • This home is an L-plan variant with intersecting gambrel roofs and shingle façade • Window and door treatments are more elaborate than normal. Note the Palladian window above, framed round, arched windows below, and an elaborate entrance pavilion

COLONIAL REVIVAL • Derives from the form of 17th- and early 18th-century New England farmhouses and predates Georgian style • Clapboard (overlapping horizontal wood boards) exteriors and hipped roofs • Small-paned double-hung sash windows, often with ornamental shutters • Central entrance-door hood supported by brackets or columns

DUTCH COLONIAL • Classic entry porch borrowed from the Georgian style • A gambrel or two-pitched roof with a "Dutch kick," the flared roof projection at its ends. Form is associated with traditional barns • Shed dormers extending from the roof provide greater second-floor space • The stair hall is an elegant and welcoming feature of all Colonial revival homes, including the one here

Guided Tours The 2002 Viewpoints tour season, a program of the Seattle Architectural Foundation, operates a variety of guided architectural walking tours from May through October. On Saturday, June 15, Federal Avenue East will be the featured Explore tour. Other neighborhood tours include Queen Anne, Cascade, Roanoke Park, Wallingford bungalows and the commercial work of architects John Graham, Sr., Carl Gould and Henry Bittman. Also offered: 15 hour-long Focus Tours of buildings in Seattle and King County and Saturday-morning Discover Tours of Art & Architecture, Art Deco, Theaters and Skyscrapers in the central business district. For information and a program brochure, call 206-667-9184 or info@seattlearchitectural.org.

Lawrence Kreisman is program director for Historic Seattle. He serves on the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board and is author of "Made to Last: Historic Preservation in Seattle and King County." Barry Wong is a staff photographer for Pacific Northwest magazine.