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.
A round barn is a historic barn design that could be octagonal, polygonal, or circular in plan. Though round barns were not as popular as some other barn designs, their unique shape makes them noticeable. The years from 1880 to 1920 represent the height of round barn construction. Round barn construction in the United States can be divided into two overlapping eras. The first, the octagonal era, spanned from 1850 to 1900. The second, the true circular era, spanned from 1889 to 1936. The overlap meant that round barns of both types, polygonal and circular, were built during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Numerous round barns in the United States are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Octagon House, also known as Hawley House, in Barrington, Illinois is a mid-19th century residence listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Temple is a historic octagon-shaped Baptist church building on Temple Avenue in the Ocean Park area of Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Built in 1881, it is the centerpiece of the summer camp meeting established in 1880 by Free Will Baptists led by Bates College President Oren Cheney. It is the only known octagonal religious structure in use in the state. The temple was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and included in the Ocean Park Historic Buildings district in 1982.
The Octagon House is a historic octagon house at 21 Spring Street in Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It is considered the best octagon house of those that survive in Connecticut. In 1973 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places to avert its demolition in urban renewal.
The Clarence Darrow Octagon House is a historic octagon house in the community of Kinsman, Ohio, United States. Home to lawyer Clarence Darrow in his childhood, it has been named a historic site.
The Octagon House is an historic octagonal house located at 28 King Street in Westfield, Massachusetts. It was built sometime between 1858 and 1864 by Joseph Watson, and is the only one of three 19th-century octagon houses built in the city to survive. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and included as part of expansion of the Westfield Center Historic District in 2013.
The William Bryant Octagon House is an historic octagon house located at 2 Spring Street in Stoneham, Massachusetts. Built in 1850, it is the best-preserved of three such houses built in the town in the 1850s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Nathan B. Devereaux Octagon House is an historic octagonal house located at 66425 Eight Mile Road in Northfield Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan. The house is one of only three extant octagonal houses in Washtenaw County, and remains in excellent and near original condition. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The Estabrook Octagon House, built in 1853 by Ezra Robinson Estabrook, is a historic octagonal house located at 8 River Street in Hoosick Falls, New York. It was constructed in strict accordance with the theories of Orson Squire Fowler, author of A Home for All.
The Dubois-Sarles Octagon is an octagon house located on South Street in Marlboro, New York, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. As of 2018 it was only one of 15 eight-sided houses left in New York State.
The Capt. Rodney J. Baxter House is an historic octagonal house at South and Pearl Streets in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Built in 1850, it is Barnstable's only example of an octagon house, built closely to designs advocated by Orson S. Fowler and briefly popular in the 1850s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The Petty–Roberts–Beatty House, also known as the Octagon House, is an historic octagonal house in Clayton, Alabama, United States. The structure was one of only two antebellum octagonal houses built in Alabama and is the only one to survive.
The Edward A. Brackett House is a historic octagon house at 290 Highland Avenue in Winchester, Massachusetts. Built in the early 1850s by sculptor Edward Augustus Brackett, and based on popular plans described by Orson Squire Fowler, it is Winchester's only octagonal house. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Pressey House is a historic octagon house in Oakland, Maine. Built in 1855, it is one of a small number of octagon houses in the state and one of the only ones with Greek Revival styling. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It houses a bed and breakfast inn.
The Capt. George Scott House, also known locally as the Octagon House and the Collar Box House, is an historic octagon house on Federal Street in Wiscasset, Maine. Built in 1855, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1972.
The Inkwell, also known as The Octagon House, is an historic octagonal house located at 30868 US 264 in Engelhard, North Carolina on Lake Mattamuskeet. It was built about 1857 by Dr. William T. Sparrow. The house is an eight-sided, two-story, frame dwelling, sitting on a brick pier foundation. Its boardwall construction and use of verticals only around the doors and windows follows Howland's cottage design in Orson S. Fowler's 1848 book entitled The Octagon House, a Home for All. A restoration of the Octagon House in the 1980s returned its appearance to its earlier conception using plaster interior walls, a stuccoed exterior and a wood shingle roof. The house features a central octagonal chimney of stuccoed brick.
The Stephen Harnsberger House, also known as the Harnsberger Octagonal House, is an historic octagon house located on Holly Avenue in Grottoes, Virginia.
The David Garland Rose House was built circa 1860 in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. David Rose was a local businessman. This Gothic Revival house is unusual in that it is eight-sided, an octagon. Each of the eight gables include decorated wood panels. Covered porches have been added to three sides.
The Harnsberger Octagonal Barn, also known the Mt. Meridian Octagonal Barn, is located near Grottoes, Virginia. Built about 1867, the barn is possibly the only example of such a barn in Virginia, as the building style was more popular in the expanding midwestern United States in the immediate post-American Civil War era than in economically depressed Virginia. The octagonal style was popularized in 1853 by A Home For All, or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building by Orson Squire Fowler.
