MAINE

Androscoggin County.

• lewiston 349 Main St at Prescott. A 2-story octagon house stood here at least in 1869 when it was the residence of  mason J P Norton thru 1897. Its shown on 1876 birdseye on Main & Prescott as well as 1873 Sanford Everts map. Androscoggin CO. Norton did the brickwork of Lewiston's 1868 Savings Bank Block. It was extant in 1924 when a treatise on octagon houses mentioned it. Lewston directory has Mehitable Hinckley widow of Daniel  residing there as well as the businesses. It was used as a dwelling thru 1897
  
  

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  1869	1873
  1873	1897

  
  
  Source: Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: October, 2016.
  Updated: October, 2019
• Mechanic Falls, Octagon house. Built in 1851. On Maple Street, near Summer Street. In the late 1960's the home was owned by Donald and Janice Gagne, and their daughter Benita Gagne Cormier.
  The captains watch was large enough for a twin bed, and as a little girl, I used to play up there and nap in it. I loved it but my dad was afraid there would be a fire and wouldn't let me have my room in it. The house had two bedrooms in the octagon part of the house and the ell had three more. The octagon part of the house had a den and parlor with a large hall on both floors and the staircase you could see all the way up to the captains watch from the first floor with an alcove for a large vase or statue. The ell held the kitchen and laundry room.and bathroom. There are two balconies. The octagon part of the house had a small dirt cellar with a crawl space for the rest of it. In the barn we had a root cellar and stalls for animals. The barn was two story with a large porch in the back. They have taken down the barn and cut the oak tree and maple trees.
  
  

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  		1960's

  
  
  Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. Sandi Brown-Eustis, librarian/director of the Mechanic Falls Public Library. Benita Gagne Cormier.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated: April, 2010
  Updated: February, 2013
  Updated: May, 2017
• Poland Spring, Octagon house. Built before 1893, as part of the Chicago World's Fair. Three stories, large cupola. Moved by train, using sixteen cars, to Poland Spring, Maine, by Hiram Ricker, owner of Poland Spring, at a cost of $3,000. The cornerstone was laid on August 14, 1894, and the building was dedicated on July 1, 1895.
  
  

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  Source: R. Kline.
  Entered: November, 2003.
  Updated: September, 2011

Cumberland County

• Bustins Island. Octagon house. Built in 1909, by Arthur Reynolds, who was a superintendent at the Street Railway Company. A Porch encircules the entire house. Originally a bridge connected the house to land, but that was discontinued after a few years. Nicknamed the Nubble, it is now only accessible by low tide or boat. In 1925 it was owned by Paul Nickerson & family. Today it is owned by the Drew family.
  
  

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  Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. Nathanael Hevelone.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated October, 2009
  Updated: March, 2010
  Updated: January, 2013
• Naples. Octagon house. Built in the 1950s. Overlooks the Muddy River, which runs into Sebago Lake. It is in the process of being rennovated.
  Source: David N. Clavette, the current owner
  Entered: September, 2003.
• near Portland Octagon house. Stood on Falmouth Road, near Portland. Built by a Mr. White in 1889.
  
  

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  Source: Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: October, 2020.

Franklin County.

• Farmington, Octagon house. The Hiram Ramsdell house. Built in 1858. Located on High and Perham Streets. Two story, stucco, cupola. Porch now missing.
  
  

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  		Dining room.
  Music room.	April 24, 2013	1900
  1894

  
  
  
  Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. The Farmington-Sun Journal, May 24, 1994. "The Octagon House: A Home for All," Osrson S. Fowler. Dover Books reprint, 1973. Page 46.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated February, 2010
  Updated: November, 2012
  Updated: July, 2013
  Updated: July, 2018

Hancock County

• Bucksport, Octagon house. The Peach-Varnum house. Built before 1860. Located on Elm Street.
  
  

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  		1881

  
  
  
  Source: "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated: January, 2015
  Updated: March, 2017
• Hancock Point, Octagon library. Orginally a residence. Located at 961 Point Road. Built in 1897 by Isaac Johnson, who came from Bangor. In 1914 his daughter Lettie gave the house to the Library Association.
  
  

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  Source: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated: June, 2009.
  Updated: March, 2012
• Verona., Octagon house. The Allen-Cunningham house. Built in 1856, on Wetmore Isle Plantation.
  Source: R. Kline.
  Entered: September, 2002.

Kennebec County.

• Oakland, Octagon house. Located at 287 Summer Street. Built in 1854. The Pressey House is a 2 story wooden structure on Messalonskee Lake with 100 feet of frontage. It was built by George (1801-1861) and Tabitha Pressey for their family of 8 children. A simple styled house, it has a chimney in the center of the roof. It has been vinyl sided and continues use as a B&B with a large addition on the rear. (Another man named Pressey; Henry T., built the octagon house in Hammonton NJ.)
  
  

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  c1950	Pre 1910	Summer, 1910
  2002	Front	Terrace

  
  
  Source: R. Kline. E. Puerzer.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: April, 2015
• West Gardiner, Located at 1298 Hallowell-Litchfield Road. Built in 1856
  
  Its above Cobbossee Creek . Small dormers on four roof elements can be found on this octagon house in central Maine. Jesse Tucker built the home for his soon to be bride but fell from the barn and died before the wedding. Rebecca Tucker who resided there in the 1940s, reported Jesse was her father’s twin. It remained in the Tucker family until 1951 when sold to the Hulburt Lintons. They sold it in 1965 to the Richard OBens. They had long admired it and jumped at chance to purchase it. They resided there until 1970. Owned the last few decades by Lorelei Linton. The first floor and basement was divided into 4 rooms, the second 5 bedrooms with the attic above.
  
  The peaked roof over the front door is supported with two round columns. The 2-½-story house, it has clapboard siding with wood corner pilasters. Under the eaves are small squared windows in a sub-attic with a belt course separating it from the first 2 floors. Pictured in the Boston Globe Oct 26,1919. It was featured in a pre 1970 issue of Yankee Magazine.
  
  GPS coordinates: 44.224004 -69.910146
  
  

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  April 26, 1967.

  
  
  The newspaper piece about is from 1940.
  
  Sources: R. Kline, "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt. Robert Walsh. John Leeke. Robert B. White also supplies the photographs. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: Ferbruary, 2003.
  Updated: October, 2003.
  Updated: September, 2008.
  Updated: March, 2011
  Updated: June, 2016
  Updated: July, 2019

Lincoln County.

• Alna, Octagon house. Age unclear. Located at about 1800 Alna Road. Very near coordinates 44.091361, -69.6174.
  
  

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  Source: Newspaper piece.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: March, 2011
• Boothbay Harbor., Octagon summer cottage. Likely built in and around 1910. It might have been used by the Commonwealth Art Colony.
  
  The images below show the house over the years. In year 2011 it appears substantially the same as it did in 1908.
  
  

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  Sources: Ellen Puerzer. Barbara Rumsey, director of the Boothbay Region Historical Society. Gary Dow provided photographs.
  Entered: January, 2010.
  Updated: April, 2011
  Updated: November, 2011
• Bremen, A Lewiston Evening Journal, March 22, 1878, reports the fire destroying the octagon house in Lincoln County belonging to the James Alfred Johnston. It was 2 story and all outbuildings with contents were burned. The livestock was saved. The fire started in the barn. It was insured for $2,000.
  
  

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  1878

  
  
  Source: Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: February, 2010.
  Updated: June, 2016
• North Edgecomb, Octagon fort. Built 1806 to 1809. A federal construction project, the fort was purchased by the state of Maine in 1923.
  
  1936 photograph,
  
  Source: HABS ME-52
  Entered: March, 2004.
• Wiscasset, Octagon house. Built in 1855 by captain George Scott. Located between 63 Federal Street. Two and a half story. Brick. 1280 square feet. Four bedroom. As of year 2011 the house appears to be in remarkably good condition.
  
  
  

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  The photograph in the middle row above, left, was perhaps taken in the 1950s. That on the right was taken in 2011. The photograph in the middle, bottom row, was taken in August, 1960, by Cervin Robinson.
  
  One notices that the entrance on the left side of the photograph appears to show that a porch, or some other structure around the door, is missing. Why, and as of when, is not known at present.
  
  Sources: John Leeke. "More About Octagons," Carl F. Schmidt. The Smithsonian HABS project. Ellen Puerzer. Dale J. Travis. Gary Dow.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: February, 2003.
  Updated: July, 2003.
  Updated: May, 2010
  Updated: March, 2011
  Updated: April, 2011
  Updated: February, 2024

Penobscot County.

• Bangor, Octagon house. Built in about 1851. Located at 78 Grove Street. Frame construction.
  
  

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  		1885
  		1889
  1914

  
  
  Source: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated February, 2010
  Updated: July, 2011
  Updated: July, 2013
  Updated: September, 2014
  Updated: February, 2017
  Updated: October, 2020

Waldo County.

• Liberty, Octagon house. Built in 1867. Single story. Original used as a post office, it is now a museum.
  
  

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  Sources: "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: October, 2002.
  Updated September, 2009

Washington County.

• Roque Bluffs, called Jonesboro in 1887. Roque Bluffs is the entry point of the Englishman's River.

  The latest information indicates that the long-held belief that Gilbert Longfellow built the octagon house at Roque Bluffs is wrong. Contact with various California agencies could not uncover where this story started. Finally contact with Al Hastings, the nephew of Walter Hastings, last know family member to occupy the Pasadena octagon house indicates the family history probably is the basis for the story. That history is questionable since the facts don't fit.

  Mr. Al Hastings mentions he found no deeds or anything to confirm the story that Gilbert built the RB octagon house but that it was word of mouth. Quote: "The family story that I got from my Uncle Walter is that when Gilbert Longfellow sold his mills and land and home in Machias and moved his family to Pasadena, he sold his interest in the Roque Bluff Octagon to John U. Chandler for $1 as a Christmas present. Whether it was the house or just the lot for the house I'm not sure of. "

  We have the newspaper evidence that (Gilbert's half interest in the ) land was sold in summer 1887 not Christmas. And that it sold for $5 not $1. And it was several years BEFORE Gilbert moved to Pasadena.

  A distant relative of Gilbert's, Mrs Julia Longfellow ( widow of Fred) purchased the octagon house around 1940 and owned it for about 10 yrs. So far she is the only member of the extensive family Longfellow to have actually owned the Roque Bluffs octagon summer cottage.

  Historian Valdine Atwood sent us the following which confirms that Chandler built the octagon house

  "This appears in "A Longfellow Genealogy - The English Ancestry and Descendants of the Immigrant William " by Russell C. Farnham, CG , published in 2002 Page 573 - "John Ulmer Chandler had a 2-story rustic octagonal cottage built by Charles Preble, master builder of Machias, on land jointly owned by him and Gilbert Longfellow, his wife's 1st cousin. [Elizabeth D. Longfellow] . The home was known as the 'Octagon' and the 'Inkwell'.

  My conclusion is the story became jumbled as the family passed it down. It was published in a 1950s LA Times as fact and then picked up by Carl F Schmidt for his book in 1958. Everything since then in regards to the history was erroneously based on this.

  We are thus crediting John U Chandler with building and owning the Roque Bluffs octagon. If anyone knows anything different and has documentation to prove it, please email us and provide us with same.

  
  

  

  
  

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  Before about 1924		1910
  c1924	1950s	1950s
  2013	2013	2013
  2013	2013

  
  
  Sources: Megan Scott. Ellen Puerzer. Dale Travis. Updated information on octagon house builder from John R. Preston's book "Roque Bluffs by the Sea."
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated February, 2010
  Updated: March, 2011
  Updated: July, 2013
  Updated: November, 2013

York County.

• Biddeford, Octagon house. Built in 1850, by George Washington Peirson, son of Smauel Peirson, secretary to George Washington during the seige of Boston in 1775. Located at 90 Hill Street.
  
  George Washington Pierson built this octagon house. (Another source says it was his father Samuel Pierson.) Reportedly Pierson Sr was secretary to George Washington in 1776.
  
  It’s a 2-story frame house with a tall cupola. Legend has it that Fowler lectured in Biddeford around that time. The front porch is open style with a balustrade along the top and pierced woodwork design. This newer porch resmbles the one seen on old photos. There’s a single front gable in the roof. To the left is a rectangular enclosed entry addition, which was once an open porch. The windows on the first floor have transoms. The entire octagon house has been covered with vinyl.
  
  Once Pierson died it was owned by Nathan O Kendall for 50 years. In 1973 it’s owner Edmund Elie celebrated his 35 yrs in the home with the “umpteenth” restoration of the home. At that time the upper floor was a rental unit. Reports have come in it has been sold and undergoing an unsympathetic renovation.
  
  The images below show the house over the years. While the right side shows an addition, the house appears to be in good shape externally.
  
  

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  	2014	2014
  1872		July 28, 1955
  August 17, 1973

  
  
  Sources: "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt. Ellen Puerzer. Dan Blaney. "The Cities on the Saco," by Jacques Downs. Steven Burr.
  Entered: October, 2002.
  Updated: February, 2005.
  Updated February, 2010
  Updated: March, 2011
  Updated: April, 2012
  Updated: November, 2014
  Updated: January, 2015
  Updated: April, 2015
• Biddeford, Octagon house. Located on the southeast corner of Alfred and Birch Streets. Burned in 1851.
  Source: R. Kline
  Entered: September, 2002.
• Limington, The Octagon was built in 1850 by Captain Josiah E Chase of Limington. He was a whaling master who got the idea from a pin box his wife Julia had that was octagon shaped. They had an architect from Portland, Me help them with the stair issue they had. What came to be was a winding staircase from both ends of the house that came to a mutual landing and then turned both left and right and took another 3 steps up both sides as they had 9' ceilings in the original home. A design I kept in my own. The roof design had 8 hips that tied into a widows walk and a small seating area on top. It was the first home in Limington that was made of traditional sawn lumber and not post and beam which made people think they were pretty well off at the time.

  Julia had accompanied Josiah on a whaling voyage which was taboo and bad luck. They actually had a child born Feb 1st 1875 on Norfolk Island, Julia E Chase, in the South Pacific. While they were gone they had leased the Octagon out to a Sawyer family that were called the River Sawyers. They logged and were a tough bunch. They had done some damage to the home while there shooting mice inside the house. Bullet holes were seen throughout at the time. They came back and fixed the home and lived there the rest of their lives.

  The son, Charles N. Chase was a blacksmith in town who owned it then. He had a blacksmith shop where he made snowrollers and sent them by rail car all over the region. He was a county sheriff as well as a state legislator. Their family actually founded the town in 1773.

  This home overlooked the junctions of the Saco and Little Ossippee Rivers. The home has changed hands 2-3 times since Chase family family and is now in the possession of Bill and Arlene Schwind of Yarmouth who restored it to its grandeur, and who let me in to see it in 2000, so I could get measurements. History from Great great great grandson Clete Boothby.

  
  
  

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  Full size replica. Same town.

  
  
  Sources: brief article, photo.. Jack & June Schmidt.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: June, 2009.
  Updated: November, 2014
  Updated: January, 2015
  Updated: September, 2015
• Old Orchard Beach, Old Orchard Beach 58 Saco Ave & Fern Park Ave. York County Built in 1850's. One-time owner Mrs. A. J. Atwood's has a wonderful story relating to her octagon house on Route 5, which she gave to a newspaper in 1917.
  
  In 1868 the Ross family living there decided to auction the home, considered one of the town's best homes. Sara Ross is credited with building it (Union and Journal newspapers) Mrs. Atwoodlong envied the home and she went down there on the day of the auction and told Miss Ross she wished she had the money to buy it. Miss Ross then declared the house was sold and called the auction off. Imagine Mrs. Atwood's surprise when Miss Ross decided to GIVE her the octagon house. And all she had to do was place lilacs from the tree growing outside on Miss Ross' grave when she died. Mrs. Atwood lived there for 49 years and she laid the lilacs on Miss Ross's grave every spring.
  
  It was a clapboard 2-story house with a tall cupola. The simple wood porch encircled several sides of the home. Today the house paint is peeling, the cupola and porch are gone - the front doors were turned into window. Even the old lilac tree is gone.
  
  GPS coordinates: 43.514954 -70.382053
  
  

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  		1875
  2013	2013	2013
  	1922

  
  Sources: "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt. Ellen Puerzer. Dan Blaney.
  Entered: Octber, 2002.
  Updated: June, 2009.
  Updated February, 2010
  Updated: January, 2013
  Updated: July, 2013
  Updated: July, 2018
  Updated: October, 2020
• Old Orchard Beach, Hexagon house. Built in 1900. Located at about 69 Union.
  
  

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  		1922

  
  
  Sources: Ellen Puerzer. Greg Hubbard.
  Entered July, 2011.
  Updated: January, 2013
  Updated: October, 2013
  Updated: October, 2020
• York Harbor, Octagon house. Located near Ocean Beach.
  Source: R. Kline
  Entered: September, 2002.