- Octagon House (Watertown, Wisconsin)
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Octagon House
Location: 919 Charles St., Watertown, Wisconsin Coordinates: 43°11′5.03″N 88°42′27.31″W / 43.1847306°N 88.7075861°WCoordinates: 43°11′5.03″N 88°42′27.31″W / 43.1847306°N 88.7075861°W Built: 1853 Architect: Richards,John Architectural style: Octagon Mode Governing body: Private NRHP Reference#: 71000039
[1]Added to NRHP: November 23, 1971 The Octagon House in Watertown, Wisconsin, also known as the Octagon House Museum or the John Richards Octagon House, was built in 1854 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.[1] It is one of many octagon houses built in the United States in the mid-19th century.
Contents
History
The house was designed and built by John Richards, a lawyer and mill owner, with construction completed in 1854. It was still in the Richards family until the death of his grandson, William Thomas, in 1935. The family offered to sell the house to the city (reputedly for $1) but it was sold to the Watertown Historical Society (founded 1933), and opened to the public in 1938.[2] [3] The house is still a museum open to the public.
The house is built of brick, and is 50 feet across excluding the balconies. It has eight square rooms on each floor and triangular rooms in the corners, a total of 29 rooms including the cupola.[4] The porches or verandas running all round the house are constructed in timber. They are part of the original design, but by 1924 they were so rotten as to be dangerous, and Richards' daughter had them taken down. For many years visitors could only imagine the house with its porches by referring to a scale model of the house, which sits in the grass next to the house. The porches were reconstructed in 1978 at a cost of $50,000. By 2006 they were again in a dangerous condition and an anonymous donation enabled them to be restored once more.[5]
See also
- Octagon house: the article features the Watertown octagon house as a case study and includes the Historic American Building Survey drawings.
- List of octagon houses
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ Page at Watertown Historical Society
- ^ *Main page at Watertown Historical Society
- ^ Octagon House: 1 photo, 5 drawings, 5 data pages, and supplemental information, at Historic American Building Survey
- ^ Watertown Daily Times article about the recent restoration
External links
Media related to Octagon House (Watertown, WI) at Wikimedia Commons- Octagon House - Watertown Historical Society, official site
- Dale Travis, Wisconsin Round Barns List
U.S. National Register of Historic Places Topics Lists by states Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • WyomingLists by territories Lists by associated states Other 
Category:National Register of Historic Places • 
Portal:National Register of Historic PlacesCategories:- National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin
- Museums in Jefferson County, Wisconsin
- Octagon houses in Wisconsin
- Historic house museums in Wisconsin
- Houses completed in 1854
- Wisconsin Registered Historic Place stubs
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