Octagon houses are eight-sided houses that were popular in the United States and Canada mostly in the 1850s. They are characterized by an octagonal (eight-sided) plan and often feature a flat roof and a veranda that circles the house. Their unusual shape and appearance, quite different from the ornate pitched-roof houses typical of the period, can generally be traced to the influence of amateur architect and lifestyle pundit Orson Squire Fowler. Although there are other octagonal houses worldwide, the term octagon house usually refers to octagonal houses built in North America during this period, and up to the early 1900s.
The Lanier Mansion is a historic house located at 601 West First Street in the Madison Historic District of Madison, Indiana. Built by wealthy banker James F. D. Lanier in 1844, the house was declared a State Memorial in 1926. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994 as one of the nation's finest examples of Greek Revival architecture.
Kenworthy Hall, also known as the Carlisle-Martin House, Carlisle Hall and Edward Kenworthy Carlisle House, is a plantation house located on the north side of Alabama Highway 14, two miles west of the Marion courthouse square. It was built from 1858 to 1860 and is one of the best preserved examples of Richard Upjohn's distinctive asymmetrical Italian villa style. It is the only surviving residential example of Upjohn's Italian villa style that was especially designed to suit the Southern climate and the plantation lifestyle. It has a massive four-story tower, windows of variable size and shape with brownstone trim, and a distinctly Southern division of family and public spaces. The building was designed and constructed for Edward Kenworthy Carlisle as his primary family residence and the centerpiece of his 440-acre (1.8 km2) estate. It, along with some of its surrounding ancillary structures, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2004. The house and a purported ghost are featured as a short story in Kathryn Tucker Windham's 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey.
The Dousman Hotel, is a historic hotel located at the intersection of Fisher Street and River Road in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The hotel was built in 1864–65 to serve railroad and steamboat travelers coming to the city. The hotel was named after Hercules L. Dousman, an early Wisconsin fur trader, land speculator and millionaire.
The Cupola House is a historic house museum in Edenton, North Carolina. Built in 1756–1758, it is the second oldest building in Edenton, and the only known surviving example in the American South of a "jutt," or overhanging second floor. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
The Foster–Payne House is a historic house at 25 Belmont Street in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Built in 1878, the two-story multi-gabled house is distinguished by its clapboarded and exterior woodwork and opulent parlors in the interior. The property also has a matching carriagehouse with gable roof and cupola. The house was originally constructed and owned by Theodore Waters Foster, but it was sold to George W. Payne in 1882. The Foster–Payne House is architecturally significant as a well-designed and well-preserved late 19th century suburban residence. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Litchfield Villa, or "Grace Hill", is an Italianate mansion built in 1854–1857 on a large private estate now located in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York City. It is located on Prospect Park West at 5th Street. The villa was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, America's leading architect of the fashionable Italianate style, for railroad and real estate developer Edwin Clark Litchfield.
The David Van Gelder Octagon House, also known as Springside is located at 21 Walnut Street in Catskill, New York. The brick house was built in 1860. It is architecturally significant as an example of an octagon house. The eight-sided plan was made popular in the mid-19th century by phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler. He called the floor plan "a superior plan". It includes four large square rooms and four small triangular rooms on each of the two floors. Two corners of each of the triangular rooms are small triangular closets. A central stair rises through the house to the cupola on the roof. A kitchen wing was added, likely in the mid-1870s.
The Loren Andrus Octagon House, also known as the Washington Octagon House, is a historic octagon house located at 57500 Van Dyke Avenue just north of 26 Mile Road in Washington Township, Macomb County, Michigan. On September 3, 1971, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The General Francis H. West House is an octagon house built in 1860 in Monroe, Wisconsin. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 for its association with the historically significant West, and for its unusual combination of multiple polygons.
Wildfell is a historic home located at Darlington, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It is a two-story, octagonal house of stacked plank construction, featuring an 8-sided roof topped by an octagonal "captains walk," flanked by two brick chimneys. The house has a simplified Federal style. It was built about 1854, and served as summer home for the Jewett family until 1874.
The Stephen Hogeboom House is located on NY 23B in Claverack, New York, United States. It is a frame Georgian-style house built in the late 18th century.
The Josephus Wolf House is a Victorian Italianate mansion in Portage, Indiana built in 1875. The farm consisted of 4,500 acres (1,800 ha) in Portage Township, Porter County. It was the center piece of a family farm that included four additional buildings for beef and dairy animals. The three-story house has 7,800 square feet (720 m2). The house consists of 18 rooms with pine molding and red oak floors. The main rooms include a formal parlor, kitchen, dining room, sitting room, study and several bedrooms. The main hall includes a walnut staircase. From the second level, another stairway leads to the attic and a white cupola on the roof. The cupola is 45 feet (14 m) above the ground. The cupola provided a view of the entire farm, as well as Chicago on a clear day.
Agriculture Hall is a Beaux Arts-style building on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison built in 1903. In 1985 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture and because it housed the first Department of Agricultural Economics in the U.S. and the first department of genetics.
The Ferdinand C. Hartwig House is a historic house located at 908 Country Lane in Watertown, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 17, 1982.
The Overholser Mansion is a historic house museum in Oklahoma City's Heritage Hills neighborhood built in 1903.
The Nelson F. Beckwith House is a historic house located at 179 East Huron Street in Berlin, Wisconsin, United States. It was added to the State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The Pratt and Buckingham Octagon House is a historic octagon house in Fredonia, Chautauqua County, New York that was built in ca. 1865. It is a private home at 99 Chestnut Street; the rear of the property is on Canadaway Creek.
The Jenifer-Spaight Historic District is a historic neighborhood a mile east of the capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, including houses built as early as 1854. In 2004 the district was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The Richards Hill Residential Historic District is a national historic district in Watertown, Wisconsin. The district includes 62 buildings, nearly all of which are houses, of which 51 are considered contributing buildings to the district's historic character.
