List of octagon houses

This is a list of octagon houses. A goodly number of octagon houses were built in the United States before the American Civil War, and of these, at least 68 are U.S. Registered Historic Places (RHPs) and survive to this day. [That 68 were built by 1861 is documented by listing in the table, with date built provided by almost all from the NRIS system. For a few, as noted in their separate articles, the Robert V. Kline site, listed as an external link below, was the source for the date of construction.]

Of these, six are further designated National Historic Landmarks of the United States: Armour-Stiner House in the Hudson River valley in New York, which is perhaps the only domed octagon house in the world; The Octagon House in Washington, D.C. where President Madison lived after the White House was burnt by the British; Thomas Jefferson's retreat Poplar Forest; May's Folly in Georgia; Samuel Sloan-designed Longwood in Natchez, Mississippi, still unfinished after its construction was halted by the American Civil War; and Waverley, also in Mississippi.cite web | last = National Park Service | first = | authorlink = National Park Service | coauthors = | title = National Historic Landmark Program: NHL Database | work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/default.cfm | format = | doi = | accessdate = Retrieved on various dates.] Citation | last = National Park Service | first = | author-link = National Park Service | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | year = 2007 | date = November 2007 | title = National Historic Landmarks Survey: List of National Historic Landmarks by State | place = | publisher = | edition = | volume = | id = | isbn = | url = http://www.cr.nps.gov/nhl/designations/Lists/LIST07.pdf | accessdate = 2008-06-18 ]

Orson Squire Fowler's 1848 book "The Octagon House, A Home for All" and his "monumental" four-story, 60 room house built during 1848-1853, Fowler's Folly in Fishkill, New York, provided inspiration for a nation-wide fad. Fully 59 of the 66 pre-Civil War RHPs were built between 1849 and 1861. It is reported that the owner of the first-built of these, the Rich-Twinn Octagon House in western New York, was impressed by seeing an octagon house in the Hudson River Valley, presumably Fowler's home under construction.cite web|last=Todd |first=Nancy. L. |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination:Rich-Twinn Octagon House|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=2348|date=December, 1994 |accessdate=2008-06-18 and [http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=2349 "Accompanying four photos, exterior and interior, from 1994"] ]

At least two of the houses were used as "stations" sheltering escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad: Loren Andrus Octagon House in Washington, Michigan, and the Octagon House in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.cite web|url=http://www.voicenews.com/stories/020805/loc_octagon001.shtml
title=Octagon House and the Underground Railroad |author=Donna Remer|date=February 8, 2005| accessdate=2008-06-18|work=|publisher=The Voice] cite web|url=http://www.marlenesheirlooms.com/octagon.html |title=1856 Octagon House|accessdate=2008-03-06|publisher=Marlenesheirlooms.Com]

Including post-Civil War constructed houses, there are now at least 84 octagon houses that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [That there are 84 NRHP octagon houses is documented by National Register reports identifying the below-listed properties as having "Octagon mode" architecture, or other indications of octagon house nature for these listed properties. Also, eight historic districts are noted to contain octagon houses as contributing properties, which may include others not listed here.] cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Octagon houses were particularly popular in New York State. There were 120 octagon houses in New York State, [Per Bonafide, citing Cramer, Sec 8 page 2 in Bonafide] cite web|last=Bonafide|first=John A.|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination:David Van Gelder Octagon House|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=592|date=July,1997|accessdate=2008-06-08 and [http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=593 "Accompanying 10 photos, exterior and interior"] ] of which 13 are listed on the National Register and listed below.

In 1958 Carl F. Schmidt published "The Octagon Fad" which attempted to inventory the Fowler-inspired homes, most of which were built prior to 1915 in North America. However only a small fraction of the total are notable and extant. [cite web| last = Kline| first = Robert V.| title = Inventory of Older Octagon, Hexagon, and Round Houses| publisher = rvkline| url = http://www.octagon.bobanna.com/main_page.html| accessdate =2008-06-20]

Canada

At least 19 historic octagon houses are also known to exist, distributed across four provinces. [In Canada, the octagon house craze also engendered an octagonal deadhouse craze. This included octagonal deadhouses, pre-burial edifices, built in the mid to late 1800s along Yonge Street in south-central Ontario, from just north of Toronto to Aurora. At least two are classified as heritage sites, one in Richmond Hill and the other in King.] These include:

*Captain George Anderson House, built in 1855, is a locally designated heritage site in Sackville, New Brunswick
*Fraser Octagon House, built in 1857, is a provincially designated heritage site in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia
*Woodchester Villa, is a provincially designated heritage site in Bracebridge, Ontario.

In addition, there exist:
*New Brunswick:another octagon houses, in Pocologan [See photo of Sackville one [http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMNR7 here] ] cite web| last = Kline| first = Robert V.| title = Inventory of Older Octagon, Hexagon, and Round Houses: Canada| publisher = rvkline| url = http://www.octagon.bobanna.com/CANADA.html| accessdate =2008-06-23]
*Ontario: Sixteen, in Bowmanville; near Brantford; Kingsville; 6103 Guelph Line, Windsor, Ontario; south of sandpoint beach,on Florence Avenue, Burlington, Ontario; northeast of Kingston, former schoolhouse also used as a residence, Morton, Ontario; 1856 octagon house in Port Hope, Ontario; Clark's Corners, Oxford County, Ontario; 1861 house in Otterville, Ontario; 8280 Heritage Road, near Huttonville in Peel County, Ontario; ca. 1860 octagon house in Picton, Ontario, Prince Edward County; Ameliasburg in Prince Edward County, Ontario; on the Upper Rideau Lake, in Westport, Ontario; 15 Octagon Lane, Calabogie, Ontario; Leaside, 1841 octagon house in Toronto, Ontario; and Major MacKenzie Drive, village of Maple, Ontario, and
*Quebec: One, in Village of Guerin, Temiscamingue County, Quebec.

United States

Notable octagon houses in the U.S. include the following, more than 80 in number, in date built order. The octagonal outlines of these houses may beseen in Google maps and other satellite photo services, by zooming in from satellite view above, to their locations. Specifically, almost all of the following listed ones are mapped and may be observed via satellite view in the Google external link here (click on "Map of all coordinates" to the right). [The Google external link provides a U.S. map showing the locations of 85 of the houses listed below. Not included are any houses for which latitude and longitude coordinates are not available. Zooming in, and switching to "Satellite View", you may observe the octagonal outline of the houses, exactly at, or very near to the flagged locations. For a few sites, however, Google does not provide satellite view coverage in sufficient detail.]

Notable former octagon houses

ee also

*List of octagonal buildings and structures

References

External links

* [http://www.octagon.bobanna.com/main_page.html "Inventory of Older Octagon, Hexagon, and Round Houses"] : directory of historic U.S. and Canadian houses with many photos, compiled by Robert Kline.
* [http://www.octagonalhouse.com/Octagonal_Houses-in-Canada/octagonal_houses-in-canada.htm Octagonal Houses in Canada]