OHIO

Ashtabula County.

• Austinburg. Octagon house. Located at 1021 Tote Road, about 3 miles SW of town.
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: August, 2002.
  Updated: July, 2003.
• Conneaut. David Cummins octagon house. 301 Liberty Street. Built about 1863. Vertical board-and-batten siding, two stories, octagonal cupola. A segment of an 1896 map of Conneaut shows the building at the center of the image.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Photograph. Also a link to some house history.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Sources: L. Kestenbaum; The Octagon Fad (photo), pp. 100-101, 174. Dale Travis and Jerry Freeze. The Youngstown Vindicator.
  Updated: September, 2002.
  Updated: May, 2011
  Updated: September, 2011
• Conneaut. Octagon house. The Hicks-Kaiser house. Built in 1865. Located near the Conneaut River, at 465 Mill Road. A segment of an 1896 map of Conneaut shows the building near the center of the image.
  Photograph. Also a link to some house history.
  
  Larger version.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  
  Sources: Dale Travis and Jerry Freeze. Don Felice.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated: July, 2010
  Updated: September, 2011
• Jefferson. Octagon structure. Age unclear. What its use is or was is also unclear. It appears that there were windows all around the second story. No cupola. Possibly wood construction.
  Photograph.
  Sources: Dale Travis.
  Entered: July, 2003.
• Rock Creek. Octagon house. Located at 2942 E. Water Street, off OH-45.
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis.
  Entered: August, 2002.
  Updated: July, 2003.
• South New Lyme. Octagon house. The James Kukla house. Built about 1840, predated the Fowler period. Located at 5832 State Road 46. Single Story. Cupola. Appears to be in the process of renovation.
  
  The images below show the house over the years. In both photographs below, the condition and construction of the basement suggests the house alread had been modified by the time of the older photograph. The basement appears to be made of cement blocks, which was not common before about 1915.
  
  

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  Photograph.
  Sources: Dale Travis and Jerry Freeze. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated: May, 2011
  Updated: November, 2011
• Windsor. Octagon house. The Highley-Pelen house. Built in 1860.
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Photograph and directions.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: August, 2002.
  Updated: July, 2003.
  Updated: March, 2011
  Updated: December, 2011

Athens County.

• South of Haydenville. Round house. Construction date unclear, but probably before the 1930s and maybe much earlier. One of the town's industries was making vitrified bricks, blocks, tiles, pipes, and fittings using clay from a local riverbank. Various public builds, and the round house, were all made using the ceramic materials.
  
  Photograph.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis, Peter Metzke.
  Entered: October, 2007.

Bartow County.

• Adairsville. Robert Saxon octagon house. Existed as of 1864, when it was the scene of Civil War action.
  Source: brief mention.
  Entered: June, 2001.

Butler County.

• Hamilton. Octagon house. The Lane-Hooven House. Built in 1863. Located at 319 Third Street. Two story. Cupola. Brick construction.
  
  

  

  Clark Lane, in an 1852 daguerreotype.

  
  
  Photograph.
  
  

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  Clark Lane also built a library for the town of Hamilton, at 300 North Third Street, about across the street from his octagon house.
  
  

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  One of the images above shows the library in the midst of the 1913 flood in the area, which apparently caused a great deal of damage.
  
  The images below show the context of the house and the library in year 2009.
  
  

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  Sources: Dale Travis and Jerry Freeze. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: September, 2003
  Updated: June, 2009
• Oxford. Octagon House. Known as the Railsback house. Once three stories, but reduced to one by 1950s owner Byron Erickson.
  
  

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  Sources: Ellen Puerzer. Smith Library of Rgional History ( Lane Public Libraries ), Valerie Elliot.
  Entered: July, 2011
• Shandon. Octagon House. Located at 3687 Hamilton New London Road, north of town, and north of Ross Morgan Road.
  
  Photograph.
  
  Photograph - front view
  
  Photograph - rear view
  
  Photograph - setting
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: September, 2003

Carroll County.

• Malvern. Octagon houses. There are at least seven located at Lake Mohawk. Heavily guarded area. No strangers welcome.

Champaign County.

• St. Paris. Octagon log cabin. Located west of town, on the north side of US-36.
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: March, 2002

Columbiana County.

• Fredericktown Octagon schoolhouse. Built about 1867. Moved three times, and currently located on Midland Fredericktown Road, just east of state route 170.

  The East Liverpool Historical Society provides the following:

  "Fredericktown OH. built 1858.

  When the log school proved unsuitable the town decided to erect an octagonal school (which were the rage at this time.) Mr David Culbertson, a local sawmill owner undercut all other bids and erected it for $400. A privy and coal house were also erected on the grounds. I. W. Young was the first schoolteacher. It served as a school until 1878. A coal-burning stove provided heat with a chimney riding through the center lantern and belfry. Each of 7 sides had a fifteen-pane window.

  It was purchased by William McKee who moved the building to his St Clair Hotel on Main st.. A wooden verandah was attached and he opened it as an emporitum. He sold dry goods, shoes boots . He sold it in 1888 to James Longnecker and it again served as a general store. It was given a tin sheet roof and was known as the round house. The Fredericktownpost office operated in that building until 1918 which was around the time the general store closed as well. It was then abandoned. In 1967 the historical significance of the building was realized and it was moved to its present location. The building was renovated and the original wood roof restored and it now serves as a museum in the village."

  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Sources: Ellen Puerzer. East Liverpool Historical Society.
  Entered: May, 2011
  Updated: June, 2011

Darke County.

• Coletown-Greenville. Octagon house. Built in 1913. Located on Rt. 571, between Coletown and Greenville.
  Photograph from the road..
  
  Photograph - front view.
  
  Photograph - left, front view.
  
  Photograph - left, rear view.
  
  Sources: Location and photo, Dave Sean. Jerry Freeze provides additional photographs. Dale Travis provides detailed location information.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: September, 2003.

Erie County.

• Florence. Octagon schoolhouse. Built in 1854. Now used for town meetings. Limestone sides. Segmented cone roof. Louvered cupola.
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: March, 2002
  Updated: September, 2002
• Sandusky. Octagon house. Built in 1916. Designed by George A. Boeckling. Deliberately burned in 1978 for additional parking space for an amusement park. Located at 2311 Ceder Point Chausee.
  
  The house was apprently built for George A. Boeckling, who was president of the resort hotel "Cedar Point," and managed the Cedar Point Amusement Park from 1897 until his retirement in about 1930. At some point the race driver Barney Oldfield lived in the house for a while. Material evidence suggests the house was used to run alcohol from Pelee Island, Canada, to the US, during Prohibition.
  
  

  

  George A. Boeckling, in an undated photograph. B. 1862, D. 1931.
  
  

  Stu Hoffman, who lived in the house from about 1958 to 1965, and Tenley C. Draheim, who visited the house often, supply the information and photographs below.
  
  

  Left click on the image below for a larger version.

  

  In the photograph above the third story walkway around the house was called "the widows walk." Clearly it would be dangerous to be on the walkway in the best of circumstance. But as the undated photograph below shows, there was in fact a railing around the walkway. Just what happened to it, and when, is not known now, and might never be. Often things like this just rotted away, perhaps for lack of maintenance, and were taken down to avoid providing a false security to anyone on the walkway.

  
  
  

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  Some interior views below, in undated photographs.
  
  

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  The center photograph above shows the dining room, the room to the right of the house when looking at the front entrance, as seen from the livingroom of the house.
  
  

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  The image above shows the living room. Through the doors to the left one can see the dining room, in a room off the main house.
  
  Below is a winter scene, from 1972
  
  

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  The image below shows Alma Hoffmann on the front porch. The Hoffmann's owned the house from 1958 to 1973.
  
  

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  A room above the kitchen - not part of the octagon portion of the house - the family called the "Cuckoo's Nest."
  
  

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  The bottom portion of the image below shows a door to the "widow's walk," a second story walkway that apparently had no railing in the house's later years, if ever.
  
  

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  The image below shows the front of the house is the entrance to the beach. The beach in turn is right next to the Cedar Point hotel beach property, hence the "private beach" sign.
  
  

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  The item below gives a little background about the involvement of the Hoffmann's in the restoration and operation of the Erie Inn. Built in 1905, The Breakers hotel was part of a resort fad in the US in and around 1900. And many resort areas included amusement parks. These were sometimes related to resort hotels, and sometimes built and operated by trolley systems that were trying to generate weekend revenue. For this the location would sometimes be near a lake, and sometimes simply at the end of the line, to maximize trolley revenues.
  
  

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  The rear of the house, and the front, with the sun room indicated.
  
  

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  Below are the home's owners between 1958 and 1973. Alma Hoffman lived to be 98.
  
  

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  The image below shows the livingroom area. The house was clearly both large and comfortable as appointed by Alma Hoffmann, shown in the photo.
  
  

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  The image below shows what the family called the "Eagle's Nest." The top floor, used as a bedroom area, and comfortably appointed in what might be described as a late 1930s look.
  
  

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  Below are two outside views of the house, showing that the outside of the house was stucco, and that overall the house appeared to be in excellent condition.
  
  

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  The two sets of images below show the context of the home at different times, and suggest why the house was summarily burned down. The top aerial view shows the area in 1929, with the house indicated in the upper left. It appears the house was relatively secluded at that time. The second set of views shows the home in the late 1960s, by which time it was largely isolated by large parking lots associated with the Cedars Point amusement park. After the Hoffmann's vacated the house it was apparently burned down just to expand the parking lot further. Despite its beach front location, being surrounded by vast parking lots was probably not a location that many would have wanted.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  A 1929 aerial photograph. The Breakers hotel appears in the bottom right.

  
  
  

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  A late 1960s aerial photograph.

  
  
  Sources: R. Kline. Tenley C. Draheim.
  Entered: July, 2002.
  Updated: May, 2008.
  Updated: June, 2008.

Franklin County.

• Bexley. Octagon house. Built in 1856. Located at 2130 E. Broad Street. Two story.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Sources: "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt. Photographs from Jerry Freeze.
  Entered: October, 2002
  Updated: November, 2003

Greene County.

• Yellow Springs. Octagon house. Built in 1856. Located at 111 West Whiteman. Two story.
  Photograph.
  Sources: Peter Klarnet; Dale Travis, who provides the photograph.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: April, 2003.

Hancock County.

• Findlay. Octagon house. Built in or before 1889. Single story. A smaller octagon structure appears nearby. Located off Jeffras Avenue. A segment of an 1889 map of Findlay shows the building just below the center of the image.
  Source: R. Kline
  Entered: July, 2002.

Hamilton County.

• Cincinnati Octagon house. Built in 1865 by Isaac Newton LaBoiteaux, a Cincinnati jeweler. Located at 5300 Hamilton Avenue. The LaBoiteaux family lived in the house for more than 80 years. It was located on a bluff now occupied by the Hammond North condos, in the College Hill neighborhood. The family eventually built a new house, whoich they considered more practical, and left the octagon standing for storage and a curiousity site for family guests. The house had eight gables, each with a balcony and support column, and the porch, which wrapped around the entire house, measuring 232 feet - presumably at the outside edge.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Sources: Ellen Puerzer. Linda Bailey, curator of prints and photographs.
  Entered August, 2010.
  Updated: September, 2010
• North of Miamitown. Octagon house. Age unclear, as is whether it is really a house, or an added room to a house built for a specific purpose. The photograph does not make clear whether there is an entrance to the structure directly from the outside, or what the structure to the left is. The shingle structures under the roof line suggest that the house is 100 years old or more, but this is just a guess.
  
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: November, 2004

Highland County.

• Sinking Spring. Octagon schoolhouse. Located on the NW corner of Main & Grant. Brick construction. Now used for town meetings.
  
  

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  Photograph.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis, Jerry Freeze.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: November, 2003

Hocking County.

• Logan. Octagon log schoolhouse. Located at 19233 OH-93, on a hill, south of town.
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: August, 2002

Huron County.

• Fitchville. Octagon house. Henry Freeman house. Built in 1848. Now gone.
  
  

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  The photo above shows Henry Freeman and his wife on the porch of their house. The photo comes from an 1896 book, so perhaps the photo dates from around that time.
  
  Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer. Susan Cocker Hopkins, Urbana, IL, copied the photo from the 1896 book "Pictureque Huron."
  Entered: September, 2002
  Updated October, 2009
• SSW of Monroeville. Octagon house. Built in 1863. Located at 4983 Dogtown Road, in Sherman township. Two story.
  
  

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  Photograph.
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: July, 2003
• Monroeville. Octagon house. Built about 1862. Located at 64 Sandusky Street. Both floors are divided in to four rectangular rooms. The porch now has a metal railing, replacing the original wood railing.
  
  

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  The grey photographs above are circa 1975. The postcard is circa 1955.
  
  Photograph.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis. Jerry Freeze. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: April, 2010

Jefferson County.

• Toronto. Octagon house. Built in or before 1899. Two story. Porch on at least two sides. Located on the corner of Daniels and Third Streets. A segment of an 1899 map of Toronto shows the building at the center of the image.
  Source: R. Kline
  Entered: July, 2002

Lake County.

• Mentor. Octagon house. Built in 1853. Razed in 1946. Located on Lake Shore Blvd. Two story. Cupola.
  Source: R. Kline.
  Entered: September, 2002
• Painesville. Octagon house. The Hobday-Walzer house. Started in 1845, and completed in 1863, by John Hobday, an Englishman, and 12 Englishman workers brought over to do the work. Razed in 1975. Brick. Located on Route 20, near Mentor Avenue.
  
  A Captain Ingersol purchased it in 1867. His daughter was involved in a sensational kidnapping case in 1868, as described below. Miss Moody and Miss Bond started a tea room there in 1941. They sold the house to John F. Hollowell in 1947.
  
  

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  The photograph on the left, top row, was probably taken in the 1950s. The postcard image, top row, center, is from the 1930s. The photograph in the center, bottom row, wast taken in 1936.
  
  Source: "More About Octagons," Carl F. Schmidt. Ellen Puerzer. Jack Braunlich, LCHC librarian.
  Entered: October, 2002
  Updated: May, 2009
  Updated: July, 2009
  Updated August, 2009

Medina County.

• Chatham. Octagon house. Two story. No cupola.
  
  

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  The image above is from about July, 1967.
  
  Source: "More About Octagons," Carl Schmidt. The Elyria Chronicle_Telegram, July 1, 1967.
  Entered: October, 2002
  Updated: March, 2011
• Newark. The Edward H. Everett octagon house. Built in the 1889, and the family lived there until 1909. The house and property was then donated for a new city hospital. The house was apparently razed in 1913. Single story. Glass cupola. Ten rooms. Actually three or four large octagon components. Located at 106 Buena Vista, in what used to be called Rose Hill.
  
  

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  Everett had a bottle factory which initially was octagon in shape. In time he became quite wealthy, and built a couple of mansions, shown above. One was in Washington D.C., and the other in Bennington, VT. His company still exists today, and is quite diversified.
  
  Sources: Ellen Puerzer. New Ohio Newark Advocate, May 3, 1962. Licking County Historical Society. Kristine Williams, Licking County Library. The painting piece is from The Advocate, Newark, OH, September 12, 1973. Emily Larson, Curator, Licking County Historical Society, provided the two photographs.
  Entered: March, 2011

Lorain County.

• Elyria. Octagon house. William H. Tucker home. Built in 1864. Demolished in April, 1964. Located at 125 East Avenue. The lot today is simply a gravel parking lot. Mr. Tucker was a local lawyer, and in poor health. He hoped the octagonal house would provide health benefits. Mary A. Fox and Sarah Fox moved in to the house in May, 1894, and purchased it in the 1900s. A brother, Charles J. Fox lived briefly with his sisters.
  
  A segment of an 1868 map of Elyria shows the building at the center of the image.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Bottom row, left, Chronical Telegram, September 26, 1959.
  
  Bottom row, center, Independent, October 20, 1875.
  
  Bottom row, right, Chronical Telegram, April 13, 1964.
  
  The photograph at the left, above, is undated, but taken after about 1950, given the TV antennas on the roofs shown. The middle photograph is perhaps earlier, since there is no TV antenna. Note the barber pole on the side of the house. The photograph at the right is similarly undated, but the vehicles suggest the 1940s. It shows the house in the lower right hand corner, in what seems to be a highly industrial part of town..
  
  Sources: Ellen Puerzer. Eric Greenly, LCHS Archivist.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: July, 2002.
  Updated August, 2009
  Updated: March, 2011
  Updated: June, 2011
• North Ridgeville. Octagon house. Nothing else known
  
  Source: Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: March, 2011.

Lucas County.

• Toledo. Octagon house. Built in 1856. Razed in 1934. Located on Woodville Road.
  
  

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  Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: September, 2002
  Updated: July, 2009

Mahoning County.

• Berlin Center. Octagon house. Nothing else known.
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: August, 2002
• Youngstown. Octagon structure. Built in or before 1882. Two story. Cupola. Not clear whether it is a house or something else. A segment of an 1882 map of Youngstown shows the building at the center of the image.
  Source: R. Kline
  Entered: July, 2002

Medina County.

• Chatham Twp. Octagon house. Two story. Cupola. Nothing else known
  Source: R. Kline.
  Entered: September, 2002
• Wadsworth Octagon school. Built in 1839, after Wadsworth Academy was incorporated. Later used as a church, after which it sat idle, and was torn down.
  
  

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  Sources: Ellen Puerzer. Caesar A Carrino, Wadsworth historian and author. Material from his book, "Remembering Wadsworth: From pioneers to Streetcars." Jim Cordas provides the image.scan.
  Entered: December, 2009.

Miami County.

• Piqua. Octagon house. Maybe built in 1895, although other evidence suggests 1911. The octagon part of the structure was called the "Eagles Nest." Located more or less at 246 East Main Street. The address was sometimes 244 East Main Street as the extent of the total structure, and the surrounding land, shifted around. One and half story. Cupola. A Mr. E. J. Granger was a resident beginning in 1906.
  
  

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  Photograph.
  
  Source: Dale Travis and Jerry Freeze. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: September, 2003.
  Updated: July, 2010
• Troy. Octagon house. Built in 1870. Located at 511 West Race Street. Two story.
  
  

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  Photograph.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: September, 2003
  Updated February, 2010

Morgan County.

• North of Stockton. Round House and octagonal barn. Built in 1850 by Albert Hambelton, and occupied by the William Dolan family. The house is single story, about 40 feet in diameter, with an octagonal cupola. Made of hand hewn sandstone blocks. There are four rooms of equal size in the basement for storage of for the storage of milk, potatoes, fruits, and vegetables. Looks to be basically in good shape.
  
  Photograph.
  
  

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  Sources: Dale Travis, Jerry Freeze. Ellen Puerzer. Ernie Thode, Washington County Public Library, Marietta, OH.
  Entered: September, 2002
  Updated: May, 2009

Perry County.

• New Lexington. Octagon house. Built 1850. Located at 445 South Main Street. Apparently the house was lost between 2001 and 2003.
  
  

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  The photograph on the bottom row, right, is dated 1854. The one in the middle row, right, is dated sometime after 1940, when the new addition was added.
  
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Sources: Patricia Wiley. Dale Travis supplies the photo. Ellen Puerzer. Sue Saylor - text and pictures from the book "Pioneers of Perry County, Ohio by 1830."
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: November, 2003.
  Updated: March, 2004.
  Updated: July, 2010

Pickaway County.

• Circleville. Octagon house. The Gregg House. Probably built sometime between 1855 and 1860. Two story, cupola.
  Photograph.
  
  1974 photograph of the house.
  
  An 1880 image of the home, perhaps showing some original features.
  
  1880 image of the house.
  
  1880 images of the house and farm.
  
  Floor plan. The arrangement of the rooms seems to be quite optimal in terms of minimizing odd spaces. The layouts on both floors are quite symmetric. The second floor appears to consist of several bedrooms, each having a window, closet, and a regularly shape.
  
  Note: the floor plan shown on "Page 4" below should be ignored in favor of the one shown above, which is more current and correct.
  
  

  Historical account.

  Page 1

  Page 2

  Page 3

  Page 4

  Page 5

  Page 6

  
  
  In the recent photograph below it is apparent that vandals have gotten to many windows. It's unfortunate that the house was not given over to a preservation organization in a more timely fashion, but this rarely happens.
  
  Current photograph.
  
  1996 photograph.
  
  The following set of images show some details of the inside of the house. A restoration project is being launched to both move the house, since it now stands in the way of a new Wal-Mart store, and then to restore it. The Roundtown Conservancy will attempt to save and restore the house, and funds are being sought for this effort. Contact Tom and Dorothy Cooper to find out how you can help.
  
  Standing empty since the year 2000, vandals inevitably wasted no time in going to work on the house. Some of the damage can be seen, but the house still appears to be in very good condition.
  
  Detail of the stairway.
  
  View of the second floor.
  
  View under the cupola.
  
  Window detail.
  
  Unfortunately, the window frames in the photograph below have been painted black. This is the fate of wood trim in many old houses.
  
  Window arrangements.
  
  View from the cupola.
  
  The liberal use of hardwoods around the doors is indicative of the fact that fine woods were essentially free for the taking when the house was built.
  
  Doorway detail.
  
  Front entrance and doorways.
  
  The fate of the owners of the Crite farm might or might not be known. The following source provides more details of the inside.
  
  More photographs and information.
  
  In about June, 2004, the house was moved, as shown in the photograph below.
  
  House being moved.
  
  Another of the house being moved.
  
  An October 20, 2011, Circleville Herald piece describes a publich tour of the house:

  Public offered rare glimpse inside Octagon House

  BY NICK POWELL, STAFF REPORTER

  CIRCLEVILLE - A house that has dotted the Pickaway County landscape since before the Civil War will be open for limited tours this weekend as a benefit for the Roundtown Conservancy.

  Between 1 and 5 p.m. Saturday, the house's first-floor layout will be available for the public to see at a cost of $5 per person.

  Proceeds will be used to offset the conservancy's expenses for moving the brick structure from its original site and insurance.

  The Gregg-Crites Octagon House, which the conservancy has owned for the last 10 years, hasn’t been inhabited since 2000.

  When WalMart planned to build its current Circleville store on South Court Street, it had intentions of razing the octagonal house to make room on the site, according to Dorothy Cooper, conservancy president.

  Between fundraisers and an emergency loan of $65,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the conservancy hired a Zanesville company to move the building to a field on the north side of Crites Road, she added.

  The building's interior was in fairly good condition after the move, but, over the years, vandals smashed windows and put gaping holes into walls. Even some spindles on the spiral staircase have been kicked out.

  "Fortunately, the vandalism has been cosmetic," Cooper noted. "The structural integrity is good."

  The conservancy hopes to restore the interior to the way it might have looked more than 160 years ago.

  As paint chips off the walls, students from the Columbus College of Art & Design have come in to examine the original stencil designs in hopes or reproducing the pattern for future application, Cooper said.

  "Cincinnati College of Architecture has sent some of its students to study the house's structure and plans to create a scale rendering," she added.

  The first floor, which the public will be allowed to walk through, features a family room, parlor, dining room and kitchen.

  The 26-step spiral staircase can be viewed by visitors, however it and the second floor bedrooms will not be accessible, according to Thomas Cooper, conservancy treasurer.

  "We don't want someone to get hurt if they lose their footing on the steps or upstairs floors," he noted.

  The house was built in 1855 by George Gregg, a wealthy farmer.

  "It is presumed that Gregg was inspired by the octagonal courthouse in Circleville when he designed this house," Thomas Cooper stated.

  The house later served as the home of Alonzo Wentworth before the M.E. Crites bought it.

  "The Crites family probably owned it longer than any other family," said Dorothy Cooper.

  Triangular closets "square off" the outside half of most rooms, and the downstairs closets were built with a semi-circular topped window to provide a distinctive look to the house's exterior.

  The second floor consists of eight bedrooms, but only four have doorways that open out to the interior balcony that overlooks the spiral staircase.

  The other four rooms have fireplaces, instead of doors, on the stairwell walls so they can be accessed from the other rooms. That design is considered by some people as an early version of a suites layout.

  The conservancy meets at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month in the Crites-Hannan Room of the Pickaway County District Public Library on N. Court Street.

  
  
  Sources: Dale Travis and Jerry Freeze. Tom and Dorothy Cooper supplied additional information and photographs.
  Entered: August, 2002.
  Updated: September, 2003.
  Updated: February, 2005.
  Updated: July, 2007.
  Updated: January, 2012

Ross County.

• Chillicothe. Octagon house. Built 1880. Now gone. Located at 170 South Paint Street. Apparently it was lost between 2001 and 2003. The location is now an elementary school playground.
  
  This needs verification. Possibly the address is wrong. Some say there never was such a house.
  
  Sources: Patricia Wiley, Jerry Freeze. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: June, 2001.
  Updated: November, 2003.
  Updated October, 2009

Seneca County.

• SSE of Attica. Octagon house. Two story. Possibly wood siding. No cupola, but it's possible there was a walkway on top in the past.
  Photograph.
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: July, 2003
• Attica. Octagon house. Age unclear. Single story. Possibly wood siding. No cupola,
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: February, 2005
• Southeast of Berwick and southwest of Tiffin. Octagon house. Started in 1852. Started by C. Wright Crislip (Christiel?), it was later owned by the Ramsowners, who then had it for 5 generations. It's fair to say it's gone now. The image below is a reminder that octagon houses are being lost all the time from fire and neglect. Get a photograph while you still can.
  
  Photograph.
  
  

  Left click on the image below for a larger version.

  

  
  
  The photograph above was taken about 1973.
  
  Apparently the house was never finished. The partial second floor was used for storage, but at one time there were plans to put 8 bedrooms on a second floor. The house never had plumbing, although it did have heat and electricity. The basement was square.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis. Susan Lareau, Tiffin-Senence Public Library, Tiffin, OH.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: July, 2009
• Carrothers. Octagon house. Located on township Road 44. Two story.
  Source: R. Kline.
  Entered: September, 2002
• Southeast of Green Springs. Octagon house. Built in 1850. Located at 7618 Snad Ridge Road (TR-32), northeast of Tiffin on OH-34. Two story.
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: July, 2003
• Omar Octagon house. Apparently built by or for Azariah Baker. Last occupied by the Richard Miller family. Destroyed by "the Palm Sunday Tornado," which occurred in 1965, affecting both Indiana and Ohio.
  
  Source: Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered July, 2010.
• Tiffin. Octagon house. Built in 1851. Two story. No cupola. Brick, painted white. Located at 297 E. Perry Street near Heidelberg College campus. Used as student housing.
  
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Photograph - front view,
  
  Photograph - rear view,
  
  Sources: K. Cornelius; The Octagon Fad, p. 106, and Dale Travis, who provides the photograph..
  Updated: September, 2002

Summit County.

• Richfield. Octagon house. Built in 1864. Located at 4799 Streetsboro Road. Two story.
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: July, 2003

Trumbull County

• ENE of Cortland. Octagon house. Built in the 1850s. Located at 5311 Bradley-Brownlee Road. Two story. Cupola. A porch goes almost around the house.
  
  Photograph.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: July, 2003
• Kinsman. Octagon house. Built in 1853. Two story. Located at 8045 Main Street. Boyhood home of Clarence Darrow.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Photograph.
  
  Sources: L. Kestenbaum; The Octagon Fad, p. 103, Dale Travis. The Youngstown Vindicator.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: July, 2003
  Updated: September, 2003
  Updated February, 2010
  Updated: May, 2011

Tuscarawas County

• Mineral City. Octagon schoolhouse. Built in 1850s. Later converted to a house. Located on OH-183, East of OH-800, north of town. One story. Brick construction.
  
  Photograph.
  
  Closer in, front view photograph.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis. Kathy X. Both supplied photographs.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: March, 2004
  Updated: July, 2004

Warren County

• Franklin. Octagon house. Built in 1863. Located on 12 East Jackson. Two story.
  
  Photograph.
  
  Photograph - back, right.
  
  Photograph - back, left.
  
  Photograph - back.
  
  Sources: Dale Travis and Jerry Freeze, who provide the photographs.
  Entered: September, 2003.
• Franklin. Octagon house. Built in the 1860s. Located on Mentz Road. Two story.
  
  Front view.
  
  Front right view.
  
  Left view.
  
  Rear view.
  
  Source: R. Kline. Jerry Freeze provided the photographs.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated: November, 2003.
• Lebanon. Hexagon house. 419 Cincinnati Avenue. Built in 1858 by Goldsmith Coffeen, a doctor of sorts. Why a hexagon shape was chosen has not been established. In 1910 the house was purchased by Clifford and Grace Warrick.
  
  As of 2004 the house is a B&B. 513-932-9655.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  Photograph.
  
  Sources: R. Kline, Dale Travis. Jerry Freeze.
  Entered: February, 2002.
  Updated: September, 2002.
  Updated: November, 2003.

Washington County.

• Waterford. Octagon house. Built in 1834, or slightly before, by Jesse Green, who lived from 1809 to 1881.. Now gone. Located 2 or 3 miles from town. Three story. Mud brick construction. The house contained many hardwood features, and two large fireplaces.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  The date for the Harra's occupancy of the house should read 1945 in the piece on the right, above.
  
  Sources: R. Kline. Ellen Puerzer.
  Entered: September, 2002.
  Updated: May, 2009.
  Updated: June, 2009.

Wayne County

• West of Congress. The Arnold octagon house. Built in 1883. Two Story. Walkway on the top. Wood construction.
  Photograph.
  
  Larger version.
  
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: July, 2003
• NW of Marshallville. The Zimmerman-Bury octagon house. Built in 1882-3 by Ezekiel B. Zimmerman. Located at 10095 Wadsworth Road. Two stories. Cupola. There is a spiral staircase in the center.
  
  

  Left click on the images below for larger versions.

  
  
  The photo in the second row, left, above, was taken in 1974.
  
  Photograph 5.
  
  web site
  
  Sources: Christine Syskes; Roger Kaufman, who provides some contemporary photographs; "More About Octagons," Carl F. Schmidt; Dale Travis; Beryl Beckett, who provides photographs. Ellen Puerzer. Tom Bowers. Owners as of 1973 are Lynne and Gordon Bury.
  Entered: August, 2002
  Updated: February, 2003
  Updated: October, 2008
  Updated: March, 2010
  Updated: July, 2011
  Updated: December, 2011

Wood County.

• Perrysburg. Octagon house. Now gone. Located at 23887 West River Road.
  Source: Dale Travis.
  Entered: August, 2002