The Octagon House in

Watertown, Wisconsin Watertown is a city in Dodge and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Most of the city's population is in Jefferson County. Division Street, several blocks north of downtown, marks the county line. The population of Watertown was 22, ...

, also known as the Octagon House Museum or the John Richards Octagon House, was built in 1854 and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971. It is one of many

octagon house Octagon houses were a unique house style briefly popular in the 1850s in the United States and Canada. They are characterised by an octagonal (eight-sided) plan, and often feature a flat roof and a veranda all round. Their unusual shape and app ...

s built in the United States in the mid-19th century. In 1950 architect Rexford Newcomb wrote, "...probably the best-planned octagon house in the country is the John Richards House at Watertown, Wisconsin..."

History

The house was designed and built by John Richards, a pioneer Watertown

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and mill owner, with construction completed in 1854. It was still in the Richards family until the death of his grandson, William Thomas, in 1935. The family offered to sell the house to the city (reputedly for $1) but it was sold to the Watertown Historical Society (founded 1933), and opened to the public in 1938. The house is still a museum open to the public. The house is built of

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

, and is across excluding the balconies. It has eight square rooms on each floor and triangular rooms in the corners, a total of 32 rooms including the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

. The porches or verandas running all round the house are constructed in timber. They are part of the original design, but by 1924 they were so rotten as to be dangerous, and Richards' daughter had them taken down. For many years visitors could only imagine the house with its porches by referring to a scale model of the house, which sits in the grass next to the house. The porches were reconstructed in 1978 at a cost of $50,000. By 2006 they were again in a dangerous condition and an anonymous donation enabled them to be restored once more.Watertown Daily Times article about the recent restoration
/ref> Inside the house at the center a hanging spiral staircase connects the floors. Its rail and spindles are of cherry trees from Richards' land. The staircase is built into four chimney flues that protrude above the

. Richards also built a passive air conditioning system into the house, with air intakes below the

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

, ducts in the brick walls, and outlets in the major rooms. The roof is funnel-shaped, and fed rainwater into a tank on the third floor, which fed faucets at a few spots in the house. The kitchen was in the basement, with a

Dutch oven A Dutch oven (not to be confused with masonry oven) is a thick-walled cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. Dutch ovens are usually made of seasoned cast iron; however, some Dutch ovens are instead made of cast aluminium, or ceramic. Some metal ...

big enough to hold 24 loaves of bread. A

dumbwaiter A dumbwaiter is a small freight elevator or lift intended to carry food. Dumbwaiters found within modern structures, including both commercial, public and private buildings, are often connected between multiple floors. When installed in restaur ...

carried food from the kitchen up to the dining room. With Richards came to Wisconsin in 1836 and operated a

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

across the Rock River from this house. He was later appointed the first district attorney of Jefferson County, and was elected

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and an early mayor of Watertown. In 1840 he fetched his wife Eliza Forbes from Massachusetts, reportedly promising to build her the finest house in the best town in

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...

. The house is located within the Richards Hill Residential Historic District.

Gallery

Watertown Octagon House-plans.png Watertown Octagon House-upper plans.png Watertown Octagon House-elevation.png Watertown Octagon House-details.png Watertown Octagon House-details2.png OctagonHouse-cropped.jpg Octagon House, Watertown, Jefferson County, WI HABS WIS,28-WATO,1-1.tif

References

External links

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Dale Travis, Wisconsin Round Barns List
{{Registered Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Historic American Buildings Survey in Wisconsin Museums in Jefferson County, Wisconsin Octagon houses in Wisconsin Historic house museums in Wisconsin Houses completed in 1854 Houses in Jefferson County, Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Wisconsin

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links