VERMONT

Caledonia County.

St. Johnsbury. Octagon house. ( Note: this was originally thought to be a hexagon house, but current descriptions by distant relatives of the original owner suggest it was an octagon. Sadly, no pictures have surfaced at this time, so the issue remains somewhat unresolved. ) Built by Marcellus Collins Sheldon. Occupied as late as the mid-1960's. Central open core, with staircase, two balconies above the main floor.

Bruce Kinney, a relative of Marcellus Collins Sheldon, who lived St. Johnsbury from 1818 to 1895, apparently owned, and possibly built the house. Collins was a wealthy painter. The house was described by Bruce Kinney's grandfather as having two storyies, and an interior balcony that led off into rooms all around an open center.

Source: Bruce H. Kinney, a relative of the original owner.
Entered: June, 2001.
St. Johnsbury. Octagon house. ST. Johnsbury Vt. The Luke Buzzell house was a single story octagonal home built btwn 1875 and 1884. An 1884 map shows it on Emmerson St. around the corner from Pleasant. Sometime later a short street behind it was named Buzzell St. All the buildings were razed or burned before 1934. They are shown on a 1919 Sanborn map attached.

Buzzell was a machinist who made a water wheel and patented it.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1884
1919
Postcard

Sources: Phil Somers, Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: March, 2008.
Updated: September, 2018
St. Johnsbury. Octagon house. The Porter-Kellogg house. Located at 281 Mt. Pleasant Street - renumbered from 34 Mt. Pleasant St. A segment of an 1884 map of St. Johnsbury shows the structure at the upper left part of the image. A second map shows the context of the first map. The house is located at number 3 on the map.

After the lot was purchased from the E.T. Fairbanks Scale Co in 1872, the house was built in 1876 by the Savage family and owned for 10 years. It was then owned for 10 years by the Hudson family, followed by the Porter family for 64 years, and finally the Kellogg family for 42 years ( as of 2008 ).

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1884
1884
1902

Sources: Phil Somers. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: March, 2008.
Updated: April, 2011
Updated: December, 2014
Updated: July, 2015
St. Johnsbury. Located at 56 Eastern Street. George A. Merrill built an Italianate octagon house in the heart of the town's business district in 1854.When he moved to Rutland he sold the home for $7500 to Samuel Moore. The home is 2 sotires with cupola and angles of the facade are each defined by brick quoins. The window sills and lintels are brownstone and the cupola has arched windows. In 1868 the grounds were divided and the home stayed with half . Moore sold it to Dr. Bullard who built an octagonal carriage house. In 1914 they sold the home to Dr. Allen and he sold it in 1936. It is now part of Windhorse Octagon house. Recently restored. 802-748-2400 for information. A segment of an 1884 map of St. Johnsbury shows the house at the center of the image, and the carriage house and barn to the left of the house.

An 1858 map shows the location of the house.

The images below show the house over the years. As of year 2009 the house apprears to be in very good condition.

Left click on the image below for a larger version.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Dining room

1875

1936

As the images below show, the Merrill house was apparently long used as a medical and funeral establishment, starting in about 1877. So the house was used as a residence from about 1854 to 1877.

Photograph.

Photograph.

Source: R. Kline. Bill Sweeney. Phil Somers. Sue Fisher.
Entered: February, 2002.
Updated: March, 2004.
Updated: March, 2008.
Updated: December, 2013
Updated: September, 2014
Updated: December, 2014
Updated: August, 2015
Updated: July, 2019
St. Johnsbury. Windhorse commons. "The Annex." Octagon commercial building. Built 1904. Two stories, cupola. Originally a doctor's office. In the 1930s it was converted into a chapel and funeral home. 802-748-2400 for information.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Source: R. Kline
Entered: February, 2002.
Updated: March, 2004.
Updated: December, 2014
St. Johnsbury. Windhorse commons. Octagon carriagehouse. Perhaps built in 1854. Single story, cupola. Italianate revival style. Recently updated, with a porch on three sides, and has been restored. 802-748-2400 for information.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Photograph.

Source: R. Kline
Entered: February, 2002.
Updated: March, 2004.
Updated: December, 2014
Wheelock. Hexagon house. Built in 1991, by the owners. Logs were obtained locally, and cut into boards using a bandsaw mill. The house is two story, and also has a full basement. Each side is 18 feet long, for a floor area of about 2,500 square feet, including the basement. The 49.5 foot chimney was hired out. The house uses a wood fired boiler for heat, and can be heated with six cords each season. The house is located at 1159 Chesley Hill Road, zip code 05866.

The home's owner, who also is the builder, has provided a complete sequence of photographs of the house showing all of the phases of construction.

Source: Dan R. Martin, owner and builder.
Entered: November, 2002.

Franklin County.

East Dorset. Octagon house. Located within what is now Emerald Lake State Park, 65 Emerald Lake Lane. Described as "the old Ocatgon House so familiar to many campers until it was torn down in 1969."

Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: August, 2009.
Franklin. Octagon house. Located on Lake Carmi.

Left click on the image below for a larger version.

Sources: Ellen Puerzer. B.C.Rainville, curator, FHS.
Entered: January, 2010.

Orange County.

Fairlee Octagon house.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: January, 2019.
Fairlee Octagon house.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: January, 2019.
Northwest of Tunbridge. Septagon house. Built in 1907 - needs confirmation. A very rare example of an old, regular 7-sided house. Located on Falls Hill Road.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Photograph

Source: Dale Travis.
Entered: November, 2003.
Updated: July, 2011

The map below pertains to the Bryant and Richardson homes in Rutland. It shows the houses were located different streets, but quite close to each other.

Left click on the image below for a larger version.

Rutland County.

Rutland. The J.F.Bryant octagon house. Two story. Located at 73 Grove St. Now an Italian-American club. As can be seen from an older photograph, the house was significantly modified in the process of converting it to a club.

The images below show the house over the years. Like so many old octagon houses, this house has been used for different purposes over the year, and many of the orginal features the original dwelling have been lost.

Left click on the image below for a larger version.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1869

The photo in the top row, left, above is from the March, 1913, issue of Country Life in America, and shows that the house once had a porch across the side with the front entrance. The photograph on the right, bottom row, shows the back of the Bryant house, with a deck, from the parking lot that now sits where the C.F.Richardson house was located.

Source: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated August, 2009
Updated: November, 2011
Updated: February, 2015
Rutland. The C.F.Richardson octagon house. Built in 1884. Located at 52 Summer Street - formerly 24 Summer Street. Razed in 1959-1960 to make room for a parking lot in back of the Central Vermont Public Service building. Carl F. Schmidt describes it as being built as a duplex with entrances on two different sides. The cupola that once existed was damanged in the 1938 New England hurricane. Owned by William, and then, later, by Wallace and Hayward. In 1958 t was owned by a Mrs. Wall.

The images below show the house over the years. The large porch and the cupola were gone by the 1950s. The house was razed in 1959 to 1960, although it looked to be in good condition on the outside.

Left click on the image below for a larger version.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

The photograph on the right, top row, above, was taken in about 1950. The photograph in the top row, left, is undated, but shows the house with a porch and cuploa. The house was significantly modified at some point, in order to make it in to the 1950s photo above. Note in the photograph at the left, bottom row, above, that there is still a low cupola.

Sources: R. Kline, "More About Octagons," Carl F. Schmidt. Ellen Puerzer. Helen K. Davidson, Rutland Historical Society.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: May, 2009.
Updated August, 2009
Updated: November, 2011
Rutland. Octagon house. Built in or before 1875 by Solomon W. Jewett. Jewett was a flock-master and breeder of fine-wooled sheep, and a artist, producing many fine drawings of sheep and other stock. He became interested in Spiritualism around 1868 and took to calling himself Doctor Jewett. The house is located at 90 East Street - formerly 2 East Street.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Solomon W. Jewett

1885
September 14, 1875

Sources: R. Kline, "More About Octagons," Carl F. Schmidt. Ellen Puerzer. Helen K. Davidson, Rutland Historical Society.
Entered: May, 2009.
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: November, 2018

Washington County.

Barre. Located at 325 Main St. Built circa 1870 judging from mansard roof. A Vermont man, returning from the Gold Rush, reportedly built this octagon house. It was 3 stories, if you include the mansard roof with windows on all 8 sides. Ozias H. Thompson resided here for some years before renting it out. It shows the name O. Gale on an 1873 Beers map. In 1883 Harry Morse rented it and Thompson moved to a small cottage on the grounds. It became the Central Hotel. In 1884 George Jeffords rented the octagon from Thompson to run as a hotel. By 1886 it was owned/rented by A. W. Spaulding. Thompson died in April 1887. An addition was added to the front of the house in 1887, which totally obscured the octagonal nature of the house and more additions came later. The mansard roof remained on the back portion of structure when converted to a hotel as indicated by code "fr rf" (french roof) on sanborn. It isn't known what happened to the house after 1915.

Marjorie J. Strong provides the following:

Barre Vermont - pre 1883. Cottage street and N. Main Street. The Barre octagon house was built as a home by a Vermonter returning from the Gold Rush (according to a local newspaper in 1890). By 1883 it had been transformed into a hotel, run by Ozias H. Thompson. An addition was added to the front of the house in 1887, which totally obscured the octagon nature of the house and more additions were added later. The history, which talks of the house, only goes up to 1915, so I don't know the date of its destruction. Currently on the site is a large brick hotel. I've attached an image of the house taken from a bird's eye map of Barre in 1884.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1891 - after remodeling.
1873

1884
December 29, 1886.
1894

Sources: Ellen Puerzer. Marjorie J. Strong, Assistant Librarian, Vermont Historical Society Library
Entered: October, 2009.
Updated: August, 2013
Updated: March, 2015
Updated: June, 2016
Updated: October, 2018

Windham County.

Brattleboro. The Riley Burdett octagon house. Built in or before 1856. Located at Main and Terrace, now call Terrace Street. Two story. Cupola. Three story octagon tower attached. One other addition. A segment of an 1886 map of Brattleboro shows the house at the center of the image.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1856
August 20, 1875

November 11, 1910
1925

It is not easy to tell from the photos that the octagon tower is in fact attached to an octagon house, but the map shows that it is.

Source: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. John Carnahan. Brattleboro Historical Society.
Entered: August, 2002.
Updated: May, 2009.
Updated: June, 2009.
Updated: December, 2014
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: July, 2015
Updated: November, 2018
Updated: September, 2019
Brattleboro Octagon house. Unknown but 1856 map shows an octagon house on School St btw Green and Elliot and presumably owned by R. Goodell of J Stoddard. My research showed Stoddard did build a large home on Green in 1855-56 but it was not reportedly octagonal. Whether he removed the octagon to construct his home or it belonged to one of the other names on map isn't known. It is defintely a residential section of town.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: February, 2015.
Brookline. Round schoolhouse. Not used as a school after 1948. Later used for office space, and for storage.
Some history:
"Brookline's round schoolhouse was built in 1822, designed by its founding teacher, Dr. John Wilson. Constructed from local brick, it has windows all around.
Its architect was a genuine "man of mystery." Locals didn't understand why their aristocratic educator would accept a lowly teaching position. And why in such an out-of-the-way place? They mused about his unconventional academy, but mostly they wondered about his behavior. Why wouldn't he talk about his past in the British Isles? Why did he occasionally walk with a limp? Why did he always wear high collars or thick scarves?
Some of the answers came with Dr. Wilson's death in 1847.
The undertaker discovered his heel had been shot away; he bore the scar of a musket ball on his leg; and his neck was horribly disfigured. His cane concealed a stiletto and his home contained a cache of swords, guns, and ammunition.
Eventually someone realized that their reclusive schoolmaster was in reality a famous British highwayman -- the notorious "Captain Thunderbolt." For more than a decade he and his partner "Mr. Lightfoot" had terrorized the English countryside. A Robin Hood-like rogue, he allegedly stole from the rich, gave to the poor, and squirreled away enough to escape to rural America."

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1910

Sources: "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: October, 2002.
Updated January, 2010
Updated: August, 2015
West Brattleboro. Octagon house. Built in 1853. Located at 412 Western Ave. Now gone. An 1869 map shows it as Cong Ch Parsonage.

This is another of the towns that could boast of more than 1 octagonal house, although all are gone now. Rev. Joseph Chandler, minister for the First Congregational Church purchased the land in 1853 on Main/Western Ave. (see 1869 map) It was located in the midst of other homes across the street from his church.(also shown on map) And was the first built in this area of town.

In 1925 it was a Tourist Inn with a sign out front that read Octagon: Tourists. The front wall had an enclosed screen porch by this time. A retired farmer, Arthur E. Torrey, and his wife from Hinsdale, NH, occupied the house from 1924 to 1934. This house was demolished to make room for the roadway now leading to Melrose Terrace, a public housing development.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1909

November 4, 1903

Source: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. John Carnahan. Brattleboro Historical Society.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: May, 2009.
Updated: July, 2009.
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: July, 2015
West Brattleboro. Located at the corner of Greenleaf & Main. Built in 1860.

Some reports had Edgar Henry Davenport as builder but he wasn't born until 1846. It was built as the Baptist Parsonage. The Baptist Church was less than a block away on 979 Western Ave. 1895 map shows it on Greenleaf and 1895 map IDs it as Bapt Parsonage. The earliest map showing the footprint of an Octagon at this location is the Beers map of 1869 , labeled "J. Jones," so presumably Jones was the builder, possibly confirmed by the 1896 article states E. H. Davenport purchased the Deacon Jones house from The Baptist Society. (See clipping)

The clapboard octagon was two stories. A cupola sat on the low-pitched roof. The deeply projecting cornice suggests it probably had brackets at one time.

It was demolished to make room for commercial development. BHS has in its file a three page article entitled "The Octagon House' which states that both Davenport and the Torrey house, were designed by an O.S. Fowler of New York. Fowler it seems had spent some time in Brattleboro during the active days of the Wesselhoeft water cure just prior to the Civil War. The only house confirmed to have been designed by Folwer was the Baxter House in Barnstable, MA.

After the Davenports passed around 1938, the home was owned by Roger and Emily Chapman. It was then sold to the Galanes family who were responsible for removing the house. A dental office stands there as of 2008.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1869

1895
November 2, 1900
march 27, 1896

March 27, 1896

Source: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. John Carnahan. Brattleboro Historical Society.
Entered: February, 2009.
Updated: May, 2009.
Updated: June, 2009.
Updated: February, 2015
Updated: July, 2015
Updated: April, 2016
Wilmington. Octagon house. Built in the late 1840s. Locate at 20 Shafter St. Oscar Shafter, a lawyer and judge, erected his octagon home on a high knoll just south of town. It is 1½ stories with a large cupola that served as Mr Shafter’s sanctuary and study. It’s known locally as the Round House. It had double front doors and vertical wood board siding. In 1869 Rev Goodnow apparently resided there it (see 1869 map ) A beautiful staircase once led to the cupola but it was removed when the house was split into 2 apartments. The north wings were added about 1907 when it was the property of J. H. Kidder. In 1919 it was sold to Peter Wimmelman Sr. Dorothy Turner owned the house in the 1970s. 1891 birdseye image below.

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

1869

Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt. Julie, Moore, Historical Society President. Carol Waseleski, Library Director, Pattee Memorial Library. The Wilmington Historical Society 2008 Newsletter.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated September, 2009
Updated: November, 2012
Updated: November, 2013
Updated: December, 2014
Updated: August, 2015

Windsor County

East Bethel Octagon schoolhouse. Built in 1843 and is extant, now serving as a library and community center at 36 Factory Hill Road.

GPS coordinates: 43.873535 -72.584299

Left click on the images below for larger versions.

Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered June, 2013.

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1884	1884	1902

	Dining room
		1875
1936


	1869

		Solomon W. Jewett
1885	September 14, 1875