List of octagonal buildings and structures

Plan of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

The Tower of the Winds in Athens

Octagon buildings and structures are characterized by an octagonal plan form, whether a perfect geometric octagon or a regular eight-sided polygon with approximately equal sides.

The oldest surviving octagon-shaped building^{[ citation needed ]} is the Tower of the Winds in Athens, Greece, which was constructed circa 300 B.C.; the Pharos also had octagonal design elements but no longer stands. Octagon houses were popularized in the United States in the mid-19th century and there are too many to list here, see instead the list of octagon houses. There are also octagonal houses built in other times and cultures.

Below is a list of octagonal buildings and structures worldwide, excluding houses and windmills.

Australia

• The office pods of Callam Offices in Canberra
• Chinaman's Hat an octagonal gazebo-like structure in the South Channel of Port Phillip Bay
• The Octagon Theatre at the University of Western Australia.
• The old site of Hotel Saville in South Yarra, Melbourne, now unofficially referred to as The Blocktagon, which was renovated into a residential dwelling made up of six octagonal apartments during the eleventh season of reality show The Block .
• Nauru House 80 Collins Street, Melbourne
• Sancta Sophia College within The University of Sydney. Referred to as the octagon or informally ‘octa’

Canada

Huron Historic Gaol

At least 19 historic octagon houses are known to exist in Canada distributed across 4 eastern provinces. ^[1] For a list of these houses, See: List of octagon houses. In Canada, the octagon house craze also engendered an octagonal deadhouse phenomenon. 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.

• Bastion Nanaimo, British Columbia
• Chapel at Dundurn, Hamilton, Ontario
• Miscou Island Lighthouse – strategic Baie des Chaleurs octagonal colonial lighthouse
• Huron County Gaol – distinctive octagonal jail design, 1839–41
• Pachena Point Light on Vancouver Island, British Columbia
• Speedside United Church, in Centre Wellington, Ontario ^[2]

China

• Liaodi Pagoda, China (1000s)
• Lingxiao Pagoda, China (860)
• Also many other pagodas

Egypt

• Lighthouse of Alexandria
• Pharos of Abusir
• The Octagon

Ethiopia

• St. George's Cathedral, Addis Ababa

Germany

Ceiling of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen

• Palatine Chapel in Aachen, built c. 972
• Dragon House, 1870 garden folly, Sanssouci Park, Potsdam, Germany
• Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, built 1961

Greece

• Tower of the Winds, Athens, Greece

Hungary

• Rumbach Street synagogue, Budapest

India

• Satyagnana Sabha, Vadalur, Vadalur, Tamil Nadu

Iran

• Ferdows Religious School, Toon
• Jabalieh

Israel

• Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem. 687-691 CE
• Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem c. 382 CE by Saint Helena; original octagonal shrine has been reconstructed multiple times.

Italy

• Octagonal Hall, Baths of Diocletian (300), Rome
• Lateran Baptistery (440), Rome
• The Baptistery (5th century), Albenga
• Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence (1059)
• The Battistero or Baptistery of Parma (1196)
• Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna (547)
• Castel del Monte (Apulia), Andria (BT) (1240s)
• Church of St. Giacomo, Vicovaro (1400s)
• Tribuna of the Uffizi, Florence (1584)

Japan

• Yumedono at Hōryū-ji, Ikaruga (739)
• Octagonal Hall of Eisan-ji, Gojō (760-764)
• Hokuendō of Kōfuku-ji, Nara (1210)
• Saiendō of Hōryū-ji, Ikaruga (1250)
• Main Hall of Keikyuin of Kōryū-ji, Kyoto (1251)
• Three-Story Pagoda of Anraku-ji, Ueda (1290s)
• Aizendō of Tōfuku-ji, Kyoto (1333-92)
• Main Hall of Busshō-ji, Mito (1585)
• Nanendō of Kōfuku-ji, Nara (1789)
• Nippon Budokan, Tokyo (1964)
• Pagoda of Genjo Sanzoin Complex in Yakushi-ji, Nara (1991)
• Sugamo Ohdai Kannondō in Taisho University, Tokyo (2013)

New Zealand

• The Octagon, the former Trinity Congregational Church in Christchurch, New Zealand

Norway

Dverberg Church with memorial for fishermen who lost their lives at sea

Main article: Octagonal churches in Norway

• Ankenes Church
• Bardu Church
• Buvik Church
• Dolstad Church, mixed octagonal-cruciform
• Klæbu Church
• Røssvoll Church
• Støren Church
• Trinity Church (Oslo), octagonal-cruciform combined
• Vinje Church (Hemne)

Portugal

• Convent of Christ (Tomar, Portugal), 12th-15th Century. The adjacent chapel is only one of two octagonal chapels in the world. The other is in Jerusalem.
• Charola, Portuguese Info on the Chapel of the Convent of Christ.

Singapore

• Lau Pa Sat, a dining hall and market

Spain

View of the Octagonal Tower at the Alcazar in Jerez

• Alcazar of Jerez de la Frontera has an Octagonal Tower, in Almohad style
• El Micalet is the bell tower of Valencia Cathedral.

Sri Lanka

• Temple of the Tooth

Sweden

• Hedvig Eleonora Church, Stockholm (1737)

United Kingdom

Wells Cathedral plan, showing the octagonal chapter house (top)

• Abbot's Kitchen, Glastonbury
• Abbot's Kitchen, Oxford
• Avenue Methodist Church in Sale, Greater Manchester
• Dutch Cottage, Rayleigh, Essex
• Eighteenth century replicas of the Athenian Tower of the Winds in the ornamental gardens of the following stately homes:
  • Mount Stewart
  • Shugborough Hall
  • West Wycombe Park
• Jubilee Tower, Lancashire
• Naze tower, Walton on the Naze
• Octagon, Birmingham the world's tallest octagonal residential skyscraper.
• Octagonal chapter houses at the following cathedrals: ^[3]
  • Liverpool Cathedral
  • Salisbury Cathedral
  • Southwell Minster
  • Truro Cathedral
  • Wells Cathedral
  • York Minster
• Octagon Centre, Sheffield
• Octagonal lantern tower, Ely Cathedral, Ely
• Octagon Chapel, Norwich
• Octagon Temple at Cliveden
• Dreghorn & Springside Parish Church
• St James Church, Teignmouth
• Great Pagoda, Kew Gardens, London
• Storm Tower at Compass Point, Bude, Cornwall
• St. John’s Methodist Church, Arbroath
• United Reformed Church in Cheadle Hulme
• The main tower of Hadlow Castle, Kent
• The Butter Market, Barnard Castle, County Durham
• Hertford College's Middle Common Room, Oxford
• Octagonal Tower, Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, built by Robert Beauchamp 1425
• Octagonal drawing room, Castell Coch, Tongwynlais, Cardiff, built by William Burges for John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, 1870s
• All seven towers of Caernarfon Castle, Caernarfon, built by James of St George for Edward I, late thirteenth century
• Porth-y-Tŵr, St Davids, Wales, thirteenth century

United States

Main article: List of octagonal buildings and structures in the United States

See also

• Architecture portal
• Housing portal

• Octagon house
• List of octagon houses

References

1. Kline, Robert V. "Inventory of Older Octagon, Hexagon, and Round Houses". rvkline. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
2. http://www.eramosapc.com/Speedside-United-Church.php
3. Ousby, Ian, Blue Guide: England, 11th ed. 1995, various pages, London: A & C Black ISBN   0-7136-3874-5; New York: WW Norton ISBN   0-393-31340-9