- Washington. "The Octagon"; nearly octagonal house. 1799 New
York Ave. N.W. Built in 1801 for Colonel John Tayloe III; designed by
William Thornton; treaty ending War of 1812 was signed here; headquarters
of the American Institute of Architects 1898-1949; now a museum. National
Historic Landmark. As shown below, the house was almost lost.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
The image on the left, above, is dated 1897. From the Daily Eagle, it states
the house will be torn down.
The image on the right, above, is dated May 13, 1927. From the Courier, it
states the house will be saved, although used for other purposes.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
The photo in the first row, center, might have been taken in 1945 or so.
Links to many photographs.
Sources: R. Kline. Smithsonian HABS project. Ellen Puerzer.
Updated: July, 2003.
Updated: August, 2009.
Updated: December, 2013
Updated: January, 2016
- Washington. Octagon house.
The house that stood at 1830 Phelps Place (Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood today). was constructed in 1865 by two brothers, William (born Dec 8,1802) and Edward Bebb. It stood from 1865 until 1950.
Both brothers had worked at the Patent Office. William went on to serve as Governor of Ohio,(1846 to 1849.) They were born in Ohio.
Shortly after it was built they sold it to Leroy Tuttle Asst Sec of Treasury fro 1866-76. Tuttle had a Sanford White house erected but kept the octagon house and rented it out. In 1948 the Tuttle family so,d the house to the Holton Arms School who planned to built an addition to their school. They razed the house in 1950 but never built the addition.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
The photograph at left, above, is apparently from a stereoscope, and
might well be 100 years old or more.
Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated: May, 2009.
Updated October, 2009
Updated: December, 2011
Updated: August, 2013
Updated: September, 2019
- Washington. Octagon house. Summy house. Built in 1856. Located at 1419 Georgia Avenue.
Benjamin Summy from Buffalo NY. Moved to Washington DC and settled the neighborhood. When his first house burned he designed and built his octagonal house of concrete.. A cupola sat on the roof with windows on 4 sides and dummy windows on the other 4. It was a 14-room house, which Summy owned until 1877. The walls were 16 feet wide; a porch on both levels with sawn wood balustrades surrounded the 2 stories. He built a small structure near the road to serve as a schoolhouse but shortly after, moved it up the hill to become the octagon house kitchen addition.
Henry Conradis from Germany purchased the house and stayed there until 1901 In 1901 the Millers bought it. William Miller demolished the octagon circa 1922 to make room for his new house.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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1920
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1924
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1913
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May 1, 1921
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1922
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1920
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Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. Book: "Capital Losses: A Cultural History
of Washington's Destroyed Buildings."
Entered: September, 2002.
Updated October, 2009
Updated: December, 2014
Updated: August, 2015
Updated: October, 2015
Updated: January, 2016
Updated: December, 2018
Updated: October, 2020
- Washington.
1860 Mills Foundry Octagonal building. At Bladen Rd at 26th st. stood the only octagonal business building in DC and built at the height of the Fowler fad . Mills was apparently an octagon building afficianado since he also built the octagon addition onto the existing Glebe house. This photo shows Mills standing in forefront of building. Clark Mills was a sculptor and during the civil war, the statue of Freedom atop the Capitol dome was cast here. He also did Andrew Jackson’s bronze for DC’s Lafayette square. This building razed circa 1900 but the Glebe is extant. See Virgnia.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: October, 2009.
Updated: August, 2015
- Washington. Round house.
Located at 1001 Irving Street Northeast, in the Brookland area of DC.
A round house stands in the Brookland neighborhood. It is one and a half stories tall, and surmounted by a polygonal segmented roof with 4-evenly spaced dormers. This unique house measures 33 feet in diameter, and the steeply pitched roof does have a small flat area at the peak. Supported by classical columns, the flared eaves of the roof cover the circular porch surrounding the house. The walls of the home have painted shingled siding. It was designed by Edward Woltz and was constructed by John C. Louthan, a Washington builder in 1901 who lived in another house he himself built at 12th and Irving (now gone). In 1925 it was owned by Fred and Grace Miller, who both died in 1941. Carl G Melin resided there until 1948 when it was purchased by Ralph and Elthelda McKinney.Mrs. McKinney resided in the house until her 2011 death. A developer recently gutted and modernized the interior destroying it's historic value.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Source: Ellen Puerzer. Washington DC Office of Planning. Photo by BossycolorBlogspot.
Entered: December, 2009.
Updated: November, 2012
Updated: February, 2014
- Washington Octagon house.
An undated magazine article mentions another octagon house in the city built by revolutionary war vet James M Linghan. It was a small brick federal style farm house on Foxhall Road and Volta Street NW.
It stood until 1932 when the decayed building was razed for the Hardy School Linghan's next home, a Federal-style mansion still stands. Need more information.
The house is of the same era as the so-called octagon hosue in Washington DC, which is in fact hexagonal.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
Sources: Ellen Puerzer. R. Kline
Entered August, 2013.
Updated: March, 2016
- Washington Octagon house. Ridge Road.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
January 22, 1854
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Source: Ellen Puerzer.
Entered: May, 2016.
