Crowning the Cornice

Cornice embellishments on both exterior and interior mouldings in Federal architecture was one of the fundamental features of this mode of building in the early nineteenth-century. In the parlor, as with many parts of the Rundlet-May House on cornices and fireplaces, carved elements highlight the wood and elevate it into sculpture, and recall angled Romanesque arches of the greatest cathedrals in Europe.