- Central Falls. Octagon building. Built in or before 1877.
Single story. Cupola. Not clear whether this is a house.
A segment of an 1877
map
of Central Falls shows the structure at the center edge of the image.
Source: R. Kline
Entered: August, 2002.
- Cranston. Octagon house.
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
The house is located at 80 Phenix Avenue. Cranston at one time had three octagonal houses, but only this one survives.
The Cranston RIHPHC report lists this as the Battey House, built circa 1854. In 1870, the house was owned by Judge Sheldon Knight, a judge of the Probate Court.
Amos and Lydia Williams bought the house in 1880, and around 1925, Gennaro Senapi purchased the property. His family owned it at least into the 1970s.
Today, there are four apartments in the building. This two-story building has been much changed. A large, full, two-story addition has been erected on the rear side of the building, and the whole structure has been aluminum-sided.
There is no cupola and only a small, central, square chimney is to be found on the roof.
GPS coordinates: 41.781456 -71.468305
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: Louis McGowan. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: April, 2006.
Updated: March, 2009.
Updated October, 2009
Updated: March, 2010
Updated: May, 2015
Updated: December, 2015
Updated: September, 2016
- Cranston
The Ezra Read octagon house stood on Pontiac Ave. He is credited with having named Auburn. (See his obit.)
Stood In the village of Auburn (actually north central Cranston.) He died in 1914 at age 93.
Little else is known about the home but reportedly demolished in the 1970s.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: July, 2017.
- Cranston Octagon house.
This house shows up on Wayland Ave just a couple blocks from Phenix Ave. on 1882 map but gone by 1895 maps.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: July, 2017.
- East Providence. Octagon house. Built in about 1900 as a
bandstand for the short-lived Boyden Heights Amusement Park, and
converted in to a private residence by 1916. Located at 21 Sunnyside Avenue.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: Louis McGowan. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: April, 2006.
Updated: March, 2009.
Updated: June, 2015
- Johnston. Octagon house. Built before 1880.
Located at 745 Hartford Ave near Killingly St. Providence County
Horatio Nelson Angell was living in it during the 1880-90s and most likely built it since he owned the land. It was a tall thin octagonal structure with a widow's walk at the apex of the high roof.
Additions were added to the front and left side. The Ochee Springs Bottling Company (which was formed by Mr. Angell, and after his 1898 death, was run by his son.) used it as rental property in the 20th century. The house was demolished in the 1960s for a Route 195 exit ramp.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
Lori DeCesare - Reference Services Librarian - Marian J. Mohr Memorial Library
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: March, 2009.
Updated: June, 2013
- Pawtucket. Octagon house. Located at 42 Park Place.
The grand octagon house Jesse S. Thornton began in 1856 was to be a home for himself, his wife Hester and their 3 children. It originally stood on Greene and Pleasant Street, later Park Pl. Today it only exists in old photos. He died tragically at age 44 before the house was even finished. His brother, Simon E. Thornton, sold it at auction but then bought it back and finished constructing the home, living there until 1870.
1870 map shows it non octagon shaped but still owned by J S Thornton.
It was a stucco home on one of the premier lots in the town. From the octagonal cupola, one had a splendid view of the surrounding area.
Simon sold the house in 1870 to Albert and Abby Field who resided there for 32 yrs. It then became the property of Adam Sutcluff, printer, whose family owned it for 41 years.
In the mid-1950s, the magnificent home Jesse envisioned died when the house was demolished. A low-rise medical office building has been built on the site.
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
Above is a good summary of the history of the house.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
1956 photograph.
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Dining room.
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Front hall.
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Library.
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Living room.
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Parlor.
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1870
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The birds eye view above is from an 1877 map.
Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. The Elizabeth J. Johnson Pawtucket History Research Center.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: April, 2009.
Updated: April, 2011
Updated: July, 2014
Updated: June, 2015
- Providence. Octagon house. Now gone.
A home on Gano St was referenced in a 1906 newspaper article as extant then. I couldn't locate an octagonal shape on any old map on Gano St. perhaps it wasn't shown octagonal shaped. Or perhaps the one on Ives, a block over was mistaken for it because the Ives house, though standing in 1906, wasn't mentioned in that article. However Im not ruling this house out.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
1906
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1875
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The map above, right, is only intended to show the proximity of Ives and Gano Streets. The house on Gano has
not explicitly been located yet. Perhaps it was not built by 1875. And perhaps it was built after the map
was created
Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: February, 2015
- Providence. Octagon house. Built in 1855.
Located at 36 Crescent Street.
This 2-story octagon house, known as the Eliza H. Dix House, was built
with clapboard siding. A chimney pierces the roof of the home.
The bracketed cornice once in evidence was removed when the house
was vinyl sided.Photo old newspaper 1906
In year 2007 the house was for sale.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: July, 2007.
Updated: May, 2009.
Updated: August, 2013
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: November, 2015
- Providence. Located at 63 Elmwood Ave. Built in 1857. (1875 street map then Greenwich St)
Silas M. Field, a jeweler, erected a 3-story stucco octagonal house. If the mansard roof was a lateraddition isn't known. The mansard roof and the cornice have been aluminum-sided. There are double windows on the first two floors. No cupola is present, but an aerial view shows the outline on the roof where it possibly once stood and the chimney now emerges. Field remained here until he died in 1886.
His son Silas E. Field was also a jeweler and lived here until 1900.
Joseph Franco of Johnston owned it in 1978.
The front has no porch, only a wood awning with brackets over a stoop. The angle of every wall has some type of pilasters. There are gabled windows in the mansard roof. A fire escape stretches from the roof level to the ground on the back wall. Its now a 4 family residence.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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1906
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1899
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1978
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1882
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1875
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1937
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Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: October, 2009.
Updated: March, 2010
Updated: August, 2013
Updated: July, 2014
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: May, 2015
Updated: October, 2015
- Providence. Octagon house.
The house, located at 343 Williams Street (btw Rogers & Ives) in Providence County, pre 1875, has been razed. It was stucco, 3 stories with a wooden porch on 1 front wall. An addition as wide and tall as the house was added in back. Toward the end it was rental property. Owned by C. A. Foster on 1875 map which shows the addition as altering the octagonal shape.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Providence Journal
November 29, 1914, p7
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1875
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1937
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1899
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Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. Courtesy Providence Public Library Rhode Island Collection.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: May 2009.
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: November, 2015
Updated: July, 2017
Updated: August, 2018
- Providence. Octagon house. Now gone.
Located on Stewart Street, between Broad and Pond.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
1875
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Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: February, 2015
- Providence. Octagon house. Built in 1855. Located at 241 Ives Street.
The construction of this home is credited to a man named Job Luther. It was a large, 2 story stucco structure with a flat roof that may have held a cupola at one time. While a photo of the house exists, none with the cupola has surfaced. The angles were capped with wood that extended to the cornice. The front wall of the home had a 2 story wooden porch with a side stairway. Note all 3 era photos show a different porch. It was owned by Benjamin and James Weiss from 1971-1978 and was already 4 unit apartments. By the 1980s, the stucco walls were crumbling and the entire house was deteriorating, so it was razed circa 1985. Another source mentions it was owned by John A Mitchel in 1875.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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1881
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1978
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1900
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1875
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1937
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1937
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Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: April, 2006.
Updated: May, 2009.
Updated: July, 2013
Updated: August, 2013
Updated: July, 2014
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: November, 2015
Updated: August, 2018
- Providence. Octagon house. Now gone.
Located on Locust Street.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: R. Kline
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: July, 2014
Updated: February, 2015
- Providence. Octagon house. Built 1856. Located at 669 Public Street. Owned in 1875 by Laura B. Bradford.
The Miles B. Lawton octagon house is a 2-story house with a central octagon chimney. It is one of It had clapboard exterior, although sometime in the 1970s, it was covered with asphalt. Claire Campbell was owner in 1978 . It was already 2 units. In 2009 it is back to the clapboards and painted yellow. The cornice is heavily bracketed, the windows have molded lintels, and an ornamental wood canopy with brackets overhangs the front entrance. The home has been repaired and repainted (red) and was for sale in 2012 for $130,000. Its now a 2 family residence with 4 fireplaces, 2 bedrooms each floor, a bulkhead leading to basement.
The house was briefly owned by Harvard University. To what end is unclear.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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Source: Louis McGowan. Ellen Puerzer. Kim Smith Barnett, historical commission.
Entered: April, 2006.
Updated October, 2009
Updated: October, 2012
Updated: November, 2012
Updated: July, 2013
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: May, 2015
Updated: July, 2018
Updated: August, 2018
- Providence.
Providence 307 Knight St. was built:in 1855.
The octagon home built by Benjamin Merrill Hubbard, a businessman, is now gone. He resided here until his death in 1882.
This was presumably the earliest octagon house built in the city. It was a simply styled 3 story house.
Benjamin Merrill Hubbard, was born February 25, 1818, at Leicester, Mass.There he learned the trade of shoemaking, He later engaged in a brokerage business conducted under the name of B. M. Hubbard & Company, Hubbard was very active figure in the community;.. He was a member of the Odd Fellows, of Hope Lodge and Moshassuck Encampment. Mr. Hubbard was a Methodist and attended Trinity Church, In 1855 he built the 'Octagon House', at No. 307 Knight street,
He resided in this house until his March 5, 1882 death.
A rootsweb piece contains the following:
"Benjamin Merrill Hubbard, son of Daniel (3) and Tamison (Wheaton)
Hubbard, was born February 25, 1818, at Leicester, Mass. He was a lad
of twelve years of age when his father came to North Providence, R. I.,
and after a somewhat meager schooling he learned in the latter place the
trade of shoemaking, but the youth was possessed of an unusual degree of
mechanical skill and was exceedingly ambitious, so that after following
his trade for a short time he secured a position with the old American
Butt Company, with which he remained in the capacity of superintendent
and general manager until the final dissolution of the concern. He
thereupon engaged in a brokerage business on his own account, and for a
time had his son, George Whipple Hubbard, as a partner in this
enterprise. The business was conducted under the name of B. M. Hubbard
& Company, and so continued until his death, March 5, 1882. Benjamin
Merrill Hubbard was a very active figure in the life of the community in
those days, and was affiliated with a large number of different clubs
and fraternal organizations. He was particularly prominent in the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was a member of Hope Lodge and
Moshassuck Encampment of that order. In his religion Mr. Hubbard was a
Methodist and attended Trinity Church, Providence, R. I. It was this
Mr. Hubbard, who in the year 1855 built the celebrated 'Octagon House',
at No. 307 Knight street, one of the earliest, if not the earliest,
example of this type of house built in the city. He continued to reside
in this house until his death. "
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: R. Kline; Dale Travis. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: March, 2003.
Updated: July, 2014
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: July, 2017
- Smithfield. Village of Georgiaville. Called the J.S.Sweet octagon house.
Built in 1865.
Located at 108 Farnum Pike.
The J. S. Sweet House has 2 stories, and was probably clapboard sided before the faux stone exterior present today. There are eave brackets and two brick interior chimneys. There are several 5-walled rooms in the house as well as triangular closets. Wm Sargeant owned it in 1895 and it was between Smithtown and Georgiaville.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: Louis McGowan. Ellen Puerzer. Sarah Paquet, Greenville Public Library. Photo
by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission."
Entered: April, 2006.
Updated: March, 2009.
Updated: March, 2010
Updated: July, 2013
Updated: June, 2015
Updated: October, 2015
- Warwick. Octagon house.
Warwick RI. 25/27 South Fair Street, Pawtuxet Village, Warwick (c1830) Octagon-shaped house, the only one in Pawtuxet. This two-story building with
alterations, was constructed during the octagon house craze of the 1830's. One corner was built out, giving the house the shape of an irregular heptagon. Subsequent alterations have obliterated the original architectural character of the dwelling.. The house is divided into two apartments, one upstairs and one downstairs.
It is a two-story, hip-roofed structure with one corner built out (which the present owner says was done prior to 1952), changing its original octagon shape into an irregular heptagon. Its exterior walls are shingled. The interior staircase is on the side of the house and not in the center, as Fowler recommended. There is no cupola and only a modern chimney in the center of the roof. Still standing in 2008
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: Ellen Puerzer. Louis McGowan.
Entered: October 1, 2009.
Updated: July, 2013
Updated: July, 2014
Updated: June, 2015
- Woonsocket. Octagon house. The Sabin Pond house. Built in 1849.
Located at 315 Grove Street - at Bernon.
This rubble-stone octagon house was erected on a hill. It was 3 stories
and the third floor was gabled on all 8 sides. (Erroneously thought to be the
only gabled octagon house built. Several dozen were built and many still stand.)
The front had a 5-sided stone vestibule; a wing was built on the right side
at some point.
Sabin Pond, who built the house, was a local manufacturer
and owner of the Pond Knitting Mills.
The home was demolished in the mid-1980's to create a parking lot
for the neighboring tenement house.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: March, 2009.
Updated: August, 2013
Updated: February, 2015
- Woonsocket Octagon house.
An 1870 Beers map shows another octagonal or round building at 21 ( 34 by 1903 ) Fountain Street between High and Arnold Streetd.
A couple blocks from the others. 1895 map classifies it as a brick building.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: June, 2015.
Updated: May, 2017
