Octagon houses are eight-sided houses that were popular in the United States and Canada mostly in the 1850s. They are characterized by an octagonal (eight-sided) plan and often feature a flat roof and a veranda that circles the house. Their unusual shape and appearance, quite different from the ornate pitched-roof houses typical of the period, can generally be traced to the influence of amateur architect and lifestyle pundit Orson Squire Fowler. Although there are other octagonal houses worldwide, the term octagon house usually refers to octagonal houses built in North America during this period, and up to the early 1900s.
The McElroy Octagon House on Gough St. San Francisco, California; structural concrete construction (built 1861)
Jane Ross Reeves Octagon House in Shirley, Indiana. Built in 1879, moved and restored in 1997.
Modest timber frame house with a flat roof. Bevis Tucker House, Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Large timber frame house, pitched roof and lantern, veranda all round. Arched windows and window shutters add to the decorative effect. The Rich-Twinn Octagon House in Akron, New York.
In geometry, an octagon is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
The octagonal floor plan, Dome of the Rock, Quds.
Umbrellas often have an octagonal outline.
The famous Bukhara rug design incorporates an octagonal "elephant's foot" motif.
Janggi uses octagonal pieces.
