After the portfolio of octagonal houses appeared in our August/September issue, many readers called our attention to their favorite octagons:
Your subject matter continues to hit on things of interest to me, particularly Mr. Boulton’s story “Age of the Octagon.” We have a prime octagon here in Marshall (below), dating from 1856. Orson Fowler, who wrote the book that inspired the craze for eight-sided buildings, spent a week lecturing here in 1850 and must have been selling the concept even then. In a telephone conversation, Carl F. Schmidt, the author of The Octagon Fad, the first authoritative book on the subject, told me that our county—Calhoun—had more octagons than any other except Fowler’s home county of Dutchess.
John J. Collins Commissioner Michigan Historical Commission Marshall, Mich.
Eight More Octagons
The Octagon House in Watertown, Wisconsin, has a new look since Alexander Boulton photographed it(top right). In 1982 the original wraparound porches were restored. This restoration culminated about forty years of thinking, talking, and delay. Cost was the dominant factor, but the recession allowed a local contractor to do the job for fifty thousand dollars. Memorial monies and gifts from local industry and friends of the house paid for most of the work.
Sy and Judy Quam Managers Watertown Historical Society Watertown, Wis.
Eight More Octagons
I regret that Mr. Boulton did not stop by Clayton to inspect our nearly mint-perfect specimen (above right), the only antebellum octagon house in Alabama, and the only true example of gravel-wall construction still standing in the United States. The house was built in 1859 by Benjamin Petty, a native of New York State, and had been lived in continuously by two families until 1981, when the town purchased it. It is listed on the National Registry. We have received grants for returning it to its original condition from the National Trust, the Alabama Historical Commission, the State of Alabama, and the CDBG program as well as donations from individuals. We expect to begin the restoration work shortly. We believe that our entry in the octagonal race is the only house surviving of its age, construction, and physical condition. None of the houses pictured in your article matches ours in these respects.
Edward C. Ventress Mayor Clayton, Ala.
Eight More Octagons
The article on octagon houses was most enjoyable and informative, but Alexander Boulton should have roamed a little farther south and viewed Longwood in Natchez.
Joan S. Berry Jackson, Miss.
Eight More Octagons
Mr. Boulton did indeed visit Longwood, but we didn’t include it for reasons of space. The photograph below hints at the spectral opulence of the house. Haller Nutt, a cotton merchant, began building his Oriental villa in 1859 only to be forced to stop work on it with the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1970 the house was given to Natchez’s Pilgrimage Garden Club, whose members carefully maintain it and have opened it to the public.
In the course of compiling a history of the octagonal Charter Oak School (above) in Randolph County, Illinois, I discovered that the present building replaced a conventional school in 1873 and was the design of Mr. Daniel Ling, himself a teacher.
The octagonal plan at first seemed well suited to a school, since blackboards painted on walls could be seen from any point in the room and the teacher could stand in the center with rows of seats narrowing as they converged toward her. But the seating plan proved impractical: the varying desk sizes made it too expensive.
After the school closed in 1953, the land and building were sold at auction to Miss Nellie Ohms, a teacher and former pupil there. She later sold it to the Randolph County Historical Society for six hundred dollars. Although the society had just twenty-six dollars in its treasury, it borrowed from a bank and paid off the debt in a year.
The society’s annual Cornfest, held on the school grounds on the first Saturday in August, helped finance needed restoration.
Mildred B. Midjaas Carbondale, III.
Eight More Octagons
We have quite a historical and famous octagon here at the Red Mile harness track in Lexington, Kentucky. The Red Mile, which started as a country fair association in 1875, is now owned by the Lexington Trots Breeders Association. We will celebrate our 108th continuous year of harness racing this fall. The octagon (above right) has become our most famous landmark.
It was built in 1879 by John McMurtry, a local architect, as a floral exhibit hall for the county fair association and was also used for selling auction pools (betting) on the races. Known variously as “Floral Mall,” the “round barn,” and the “Berry barn” (for the famous trainer Tom Berry), the building is now a museum, the Standardbred Stable of Memories.
Tom White Lexington Trots Breeders Association Lexington, Ky.
Eight More Octagons
Isn’t there an Octagon House in Washington, D. C., that antedates Fowler by many years? During the First World War I delivered some documents to that building, which was then in use by a branch of the government. I seem to remember that it had served the government many years previously, after the attempt to burn the White House during the War of 1812.
Perhaps a little research will either verify my memory or find me entirely at fault.
Edwin W. Cooper East ford, Conn.
Built by Dr. William Thornton in 1800 and used as a temporary White House during the winter of 1814, The Octagon is now a museum of decorative arts. Despite its name it is not considered a true octagon because its sides are not of equal length, as the drawing and photograph above demonstrate.
Finally, while preparing an article on Huckleberry Finn which will appear in a future issue, one of the editors spotted a photo of Mark Twain peering out from the ivy-covered octagonal study (below) on the grounds of Quarry Farm, his home near Elmira, New York. His view from eight spacious windows, Twain wrote, commanded “leagues of valley and city and retreating ranges of distant blue hills. It is a cosy nest, with just room in it for a sofa and a table and three or four chairs—and when the storms sweep down the remote valley and the lightning flashes above the hills below and the rain beats upon the roof over my head, imagine the luxury of it!” Today Quarry Farm belongs to Elmira College, and Twain’s luxurious little hideaway has been moved to the campus, where it is open to the public.
