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Quaintold etchings of such scenes as the “Fall of Richmond” in the Civil War,photographs of the home and grave of Jesse James in Missouri and pictures ofearly Watertown streets and people, adorn other sides of the wall. Ateach landing on the spiral stairway is a small door, inside of which one willfind a little faucet from which flows soft water. As the rain pours onto the tin-covered roof aboveit drains into a tank, well-hidden, from whence the water is fed to the seriesof tappets on each floor. Adoor to the right again leads back to the first parlor where the visitorentered but a few minutes before.
Architectural style
With this layout, you can clean your clothes without drawing the attention of any visitors. Both patios lead into parallel foyers, allowing for visitors to remove jackets and shoes safely. These also double as a means of directing inhabitants to the dining, cooking, or bedroom areas, depending on their needs. Instead of constructing one all-encompassing porch, this plan proposes having two porches at either entryway.
Case study: Watertown Octagon House, Wisconsin
H. Lehrkind, HistoricalSociety president in 1938, and Attorney Wallace Thauer to transfer title of theproperty. Hans Gaebler, a real historian and most interested in thepreservation of historic sites, was in many ways responsible for organization of the Watertown Historical Society. The first floorrooms, a music room, living room, dining room, butlery and conservatory are 10feet, 10 inches in height. A dumb waiter functions between the dining room andkitchen in the basement level, and a large chest of drawers was built into thesouth wall of the dining room for linens and storage. Large family bedroomswith accompanying small corner rooms for the small children are on the secondfloor. The third floor hadbeen added to Richards' original design in order toaccommodate the young men who worked in his mill.
Hometown Hauntings: The Haunting of Octagon Hall - WBKO
Hometown Hauntings: The Haunting of Octagon Hall.
Posted: Fri, 29 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Advantages of the octagon plan
Despite its predetermined shape, Octagon Houses can serve various functions depending on a family’s needs. Each of these three examples depicts how an octagon house could perfectly suit your specific interests. The house was also living and working space for enslaved people, including Harry and Winney Jackson. Harry was the Tayloes’ head coachman, and Winney was Anne’s ladies maid. The Jacksons had three children, but only their son Henry ever worked with his parents at the Octagon.
The thirdfloor ceiling slopes toward the center to follow the pitch of the roofline. This slope is necessary to take care of one of one of the most unusualfeatures of the house - a system for running water. Three courses or rounds of brick formthe 13-inch walls; the inner two rounds are Watertown brick from the local andnewly established brick yards which began work in Watertown in 1847. Theoutside brick layer was Cream City brick hauled from Milwaukee by ox and horseteams over the new plank road. Most ofthe lumber, basswood, cherry and oak came from theRichards woods.
Armour-Stiner (Octagon) House
Curiously, on the secondfloor the interior octagon is divided once more into a polygon of 16 sides andwhere, on the first floor, one room stood, here two, a large bedroom and a smallerone, complete with window and closet, take up the space. The designer of this home wellknew the means of conserving space. WhenJohn Richards went to build his home 80 years ago, he did so with a resolutionthat it should be totally apart from anything in the city. A journey to the grounds and through the home will prove to the most skeptical that heaccomplished his purpose. From Milwaukeecame the thousands of bricks, the real cream brick which gave the Wisconsinmetropolis its nickname. With an octagonfor a geometrical pattern, he selected the plans for the remarkable house whichwastes not an inch of precious space.
In the Octagon House today isa rug made from the skins of four timber wolves and baskets and other artifactsgiven later to Mrs. Richards in exchange for loaves of her fresh bread. In 1840 Richards returned east to marryMiss Eliza Forbes of Great Barrington. Her father, Moses Forbes, was the ownerof the Old Post Road stage coach line which ran between Hartford andAlbany. To allay the fears of his bridefor life as a pioneer in a new land Richards promised she would have the finesthome in the area. Once here he became thefirst lawyer in Jefferson County, as well as the owner of several mills. He promised to build herthe finest home in the Wisconsin Territory if she would marry him.
Kykuit Tours
While it limits their individual sizes, it squeezes more space out of smaller lots. With a conversation pit as the centerpiece of this expansive interior, homeowners have plenty of space to entertain guests. The most notable room downstairs is the kitchen, with two pantries attached for easy storage access.
Any extra space gained from the overall layout is lost by the placement of your furnishings. The materials for siding and roofing require specific cuts that prevent companies from reusing them in future projects. Consider the environmental impact of trashed materials before planning your project. Lawrence Mauro is used to strangers gawking at the eight-sided 1860 house he owns in Stockport, N.Y. And for the most part, he’s fine with it. And, of course, no Victorian home is complete without a resident ghost.
Forthe past 38 years the society has owned and maintained the home open to thepublic from May 1 to Nov. 1 each year. This Watertown landmark has luredthousands of visitors to what is probably the largest pre-Civil War singlefamily dwelling in Wisconsin, a home with a unique place in Watertown history. Shortly after the death of Carl Carmer, the house was acquired by National Trust for Historic Preservation. In need of stabilization and conservation, it was the first house to be acquired by the National Trust and resold, in 1978, to a private citizen. Joseph Pell Lombardi, the owner, is a preservation architect specializing in conservation, restoration, and historic preservation throughout the world.
Octagonal houses were supposedly more efficient by using fewer materials while providing more light and being easier to heat. However, the acute angles in the floor plan made it difficult to partition smaller rooms and place furniture. He was particularly attracted tothe bluffs above the river and purchased 104 acres on both sides of the RockRiver. In the past he had been influenced by a new building concept — theoctagon shaped house. He felt the bluffs above the navigable river would givehim a commanding view of the Rock River valley for his dream home. Harvey Richards' father, Charlesof Chicago, the youngest son of John Richards, was the last owner of theOctagon House.
Fowler, a phrenologistand publisher, had long been a writer on fresh attitudes toward living.“Nature's forms are mostly spherical," Fowler wrote, "Then why notapply this form to houses? " After publication of his Octagon House bookmany barns, houses, churches and schools in octagonshape sprang up, mostly in eastern United States. For years, local rumors have swirled around The Octagon House, implying its connection to the spirit world. Come hear tales of the unexplained and uncanny events that have occurred in this magical house while experiencing the delight of this meticulously restored architectural wonder.
Thetrip about the lower floor is ended, the octagon has been circumscribed. Adoor to the right leads to a second parlor, decorated with bright wall paperand its ceiling ornate with carved moldings. Chairs, cabinets, stools and tables, allhomemade of valuable woods and carefully preserved,dot the room. These, too, have stood intheir places since the earliest days of the home. Their master looks with pride upon them forto him they are more than antiques.
In 1970, The Octagon was first open to the public as a museum. The Octagon House, as it came to be known, was completed in 1801 in the very early days of the new federal city. TheOctagon House was originally completed with porches at its current location in1854 by John Richards. In 1924 his daughter Anna tore down theporches because the wooden boards and beams were rotting and becomingunsafe.
Davies sent a check for $200 to Max Rohr, Sr., Merchants National BankPresident, to be used in the restoration program at the house. Both letters contain thevery pleasant information which is that he expects to "see you allin June." Mr. Davies, a Watertownborn former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and Belguim, had previously donatedgenerously to the society Octagon House fund. Thesecond floor is given over totally to bedrooms, furnished with soft,comfortable appearing beds, carved of fine wood andfinished with all the turns and curves that characterized interior decorationof generations past. Bureaus andwardrobes all are finely kept and possess the luster that the years have failedto blemish.
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