In mid 1800’s new inventions were being introduced to society.
Machines, engines, appliances, all of these were new ideas revolutionizing the daily lives
of people everywhere in the US
With new technology now flooding homes, some began to rethink how we should live.
Orson Squire Fowler was one of these visionaries.
He was a phrenologist, who measured skulls to predict people’s traits, something we
now know as a pseudoscience which was used to justify slavery, but, none the less, it
was a popular idea at the time.
Basing his theories on his own non-verifiable observations, He developed a utopian system
to dictate how people should live.
He wrote a treatise on architecture named The Octagon House: A home for all Occasions
in which he theorized that the octagon was the ideal shape for a house.
He argued that the geometry of the shape would allow for room configurations which would
more cohesively flow together and allow for natural light to illuminate more interior
space all while cutting down on the amount of materials used due to the substitution
of diagonal walls for right angle corners.
Fowler’s theory caused a frenzy in the architectural world leading to hundreds of octagon shaped
houses being built all around North America including a failed utopian project named Octagon
City in Kansas where over 100 settlers attempted to build an entire city out of octagon shaped
buildings.
It ended up being more like a cult and the settlers became malnourished while illness
raged through their community, so the project was quickly abandoned.
Nevertheless, there were still people willing to spend their life savings building octagon
houses elsewhere.
In 1860, Paul Armour, a wealthy financier searched for the perfect location to test
this theory.
He discovered a surreal landscape along the Old Croton Aqueduct in Westchester County,
New York.
A knoll sat high above the Hudson river, offering panoramic views no matter which direction
he faced.
He decided this would be the spot to build his octagon house.
Over the years, it had several owners, each of whom made slight changes, but regardless
of those changes, the key principles remained the same.
Looking at the Section of the house, we can see that the interior spaces adjusted for
height at each level with a central staircase turning from the basement until it spiraled
into the crow’s nest.
Seeing the floor plan of the first level, we will notice that large rectilinear spaces
were met with smaller, wedge-shaped rooms on their sides, each feeding into the next
larger room.
Stepping onto the veranda, each bay boasted elaborate gingerbreading below a strict grid
of ceiling beams conveying the octagon’s structural geometry.
As the front doors swing open, the house appears like any normal, victorian era home with a
grand staircase to greet you at the end of a rectangular room.
To one side is the Library, behind etched glass doors which manipulate the space into
feeling larger than it is as there is only a small clearing in the center of the room
to circulate about.
To the other side was the living room, finished out with ornate plaster work which nuanced
the Egyptian revival style.
To the side, we can see the music room through the opening, its wedged shape allowing only
for a tight walking path around heavy furniture.
Behind the staircase, the dining room stretched from side to side with rounded corners on
each end.
Going upstairs, the second floor landing once again assumed a regular shape.
If you didn’t know what waited for you behind the doors, you might forget that you were
in an octagon shaped house for a moment.
Up here we can find the bathroom crammed into a wedge between bedrooms, with a clawfoot
tub nearly obstructing the walkway.
On the third floor, the space really opens up with a large 3rd floor reception room finished
out with built in and unique millwork one again referencing the Egyptian revival style
with walls sloping and curving along the interior of the domed roof line.
We can follow the dome to its apex by traveling up the last straight flight of stairs to arrive
in the Billiards room where a tightly spun spiral staircase will lead us to the crow’s
nest.
Up here, a circular banister punctures the octagonal foot print of the room allowing
you to walk 360 degrees about it, absorbing the scenic views framed in all directions.
You might have noticed interior damage in each photo we viewed, with water damage and
cracks running from floor to ceiling in some places.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with an octagon shaped building, the additional
angles allow for more places for water seep through.
When you couple this with dormers puncturing the each face of the octagonal dome twice,
we can assume why this style quickly came and went out of fashion.
To this day, the Armour-Stiner house has been restored and is believed to be the only surviving,
domed octagonal house in North America.
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