Google Alerts recently included a link to Laura Clementsen's neat article, "Octagon But Not Forgotten: The State's Eight-Sided Antiques" in the Sunday, March 18, 2007 edition of the Hartford Courant about Orson Squire Fowler's octagonal houses in Connecticut. In the article, Clementsen describes how, after reading another article about Fowler's octagonal houses in 1997, she decided to celebrate her birthday by touring around Connecticut to visit and photograph the 18 Fowler houses reportedly in that state. They found 15 of 18, and many are briefly described in Clementsen's article.
Among other accomplishments, Orson Squire Fowler (1809-1887) published "The Octagon House: A Home for All" in 1849 and was the country's "leading authority on phrenology, the supposed science of defining an individual's characteristics by the shape and contours of the head." As Clementsen notes, Fowler believed octagonal houses created more living area, were less expensive to build, had better circulation for heating and cooling, and received more natural light.
I first ran across Fowler and his houses when working on my master's thesis on Thomas Jefferson's octagonal historic house and retreat, Poplar Forest (in Bedford County, Virginia, not far from Lynchburg) many years ago and have always been fascinated by them.
However, I had, for the most part, forgotten Fowler. This article revived my interest and inevitably led to an impromtu Google search, more information and some great sources of information about octagonal and other unusually shaped buildings:
Among other accomplishments, Orson Squire Fowler (1809-1887) published "The Octagon House: A Home for All" in 1849 and was the country's "leading authority on phrenology, the supposed science of defining an individual's characteristics by the shape and contours of the head." As Clementsen notes, Fowler believed octagonal houses created more living area, were less expensive to build, had better circulation for heating and cooling, and received more natural light.
I first ran across Fowler and his houses when working on my master's thesis on Thomas Jefferson's octagonal historic house and retreat, Poplar Forest (in Bedford County, Virginia, not far from Lynchburg) many years ago and have always been fascinated by them.
However, I had, for the most part, forgotten Fowler. This article revived my interest and inevitably led to an impromtu Google search, more information and some great sources of information about octagonal and other unusually shaped buildings:
- Orson Squire Fowler entry in Wikipedia (needs updating, some links broken)
- Inventory of Older Octagon, Hexagon and Round Houses, a great annotated list of octagonal (and other) houses throughout the U.S. and Canada. Read the New York list here.
- Preservation Online article: Eight Was Enough, by Carole Moore.
- Round Barns and Covered Bridges, created and maintained by Dale Travis. The site has great links to additional web sites.
- Article from The Old House Web: Octagon House: 1850-1860 which includes some nice drawings and photographs.
