The Octagon House: A Home for All
by O. S. Fowler
On This Page
Description
In the mid-19th Century, America was host to a curious architectural trend: the octagonal house. Such eight-sided homes'as well as schools, churches, barns, and businesses'were popping up across the country so quickly that by 1857 over 1,000 had been built. Though the craze has long since subsided, the book that started it all remains a valuable and curious artifact of architectural history. A phrenologist by trade and eccentric Renaissance man by character, Orson S. Fowler, subscribed to show more the principle that form follows function in architecture years before the edict was popularized by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. For a multitude of reasons explored at length in these pages, Fowler determined that an octagonal house provides for the maximal utilization of space and resources like heat and water. Years ahead of his time with respect to his concerns about energy efficiency, Fowler includes plans that call for central heating, running water, and ?speaking tubes'. Modern readers will likely be amused by his short sermon on the potential benefits of an ?indoor water closet'. Though Fowler himself was never trained as an architect, he supports his assertions with strong reasoning and even includes plans and instructions for designing and constructing an octagon house. As the long-dormant octagonal home craze heats up once again, The Octagon House continues to be highly sought after for its creative architectural suggestions, and its cheerful, engaging, and quirky tone. True to character, Fowler folds a great deal of vivacious, offbeat commentary into this treatise on octagonal architecture. With plenty of sudden left turns and amusing anecdotes, this high-quality re-issue of 1848?s The Octagon House is sure to delight anyone who appreciates art, architecture, and curious minds. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I can't imagine building a house based solely on this book but many people did. Between 1848 when the first edition of this book was published and the Civil War, many octagon houses were built. Orson Fowler lived in his own octagon house between Route 9 and the Hudson River in Dutchess County for a relatively short time before moving to a more conventional (and cheaper) house. It was used as a boarding house and a school before being abandoned and vandalized. It is a testament to the sturdiness of the construction that local authorities finally had to dynamite the house to raze it. There is no longer any sign of the house on Fowler Road.
Fowler claimed that the octagon house was cheaper to build and healthier to live in than a show more four-sided house. show less
Fowler claimed that the octagon house was cheaper to build and healthier to live in than a show more four-sided house. show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
38 Works 338 Members
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- A Home for All, or a New, Cheap, Convenient, and Superior Mode of Building
- Alternate titles
- A Home for All: the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building; The Octagon House: A Home for All
- Original publication date
- 1848
- Disambiguation notice
- Also published as: A Home for All, and The Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Art & Design, Home & Garden, History
- DDC/MDS
- 728.3 — Arts & recreation Architecture Residential and related buildings Specific kinds of conventional housing
- LCC
- NA7125 .F775 — Fine Arts 2599.5-2599.9 Architectural criticism Architecture Special classes of buildings Classed by use Domestic architecture. Houses. Dwellings
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 89
- Popularity
- 360,848
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.67)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 1
