List of octagonal buildings and structures in the United States

Octagonal buildings and structures are characterized by an octagonal plan form, whether a perfect geometric octagon or a regular eight-sided polygon with approximately equal sides.

Octagon-shaped buildings date from at least 300 B.C. when the Tower of the Winds

Tower of the Winds

The Tower of the Winds, also called horologion , is an octagonal Pentelic marble clocktower on the Roman agora in Athens. The structure features a combination of sundials, a water clock and a wind vane...

in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece, was constructed. Octagonal houses were popularized in the United States in the mid-19th century by Orson Squire Fowler

Orson Squire Fowler

Orson Squire Fowler was a phrenologist who popularized the octagon house in the middle of the nineteenth century....

and many other octagonal buildings and structures soon followed.

This article is a list of octagonal buildings and structures in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Many of these are on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

Churches, chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

s, synagogues. etc.

Alberts Chapel
Alberts Chapel
Alberts Chapel is an unusual octagonal Methodist church located near the settlement of Sand Ridge, West Virginia. Built in the Carpenter Gothic-style, the simple, sparingly ornamented church rises to an octagonal cupola, with lancet windows and board-and-batten siding...

, Sand Ridge, West Virginia, 1903, built in the Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...

-style
Falcon Tabernacle
Falcon Tabernacle
The Falcon Tabernacle, also known as the Octagon Tabernacle and the Little Tabernacle, is an historic octagon-shaped Pentecostal Holiness church building in Falcon, North Carolina. Built in 1898, it was designed by Julius A. Culbreth for prayer meetings and was built using wood from trees that had...

, Falcon, North Carolina, 1898. On January 30, 1911, it was the site of the formal merger agreement between two Pentecostal denominations
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...

, into what is now the International Pentecostal Holiness Church
International Pentecostal Holiness Church
The International Pentecostal Holiness Church or simply Pentecostal Holiness Church is a Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1911 with the merger of two older denominations. Traditionally centered in the Southeastern United States, particularly the Carolinas and Georgia, the Pentecostal...

.
Holy Ghost Catholic Church (Kula, Hawaii)
Holy Ghost Catholic Church (Kula, Hawaii)
Holy Ghost Catholic Church, also known as Holy Ghost Mission, is an historic octagon-shaped Roman Catholic church building located at 4300 Lower Kula Road in Waiakoa in the Kula district. It was designed by Father James Beissel and built by his parishioners who were Portuguese from the Azores and...

, 1894.
Follen Church Society-Unitarian Universalist
Follen Church Society-Unitarian Universalist
The Follen Church Society is an historic Unitarian Universalist congregation located at 755 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington, Massachusetts.-History:...

, Lexington, Massachusetts, 1839, has an octagonal sanctuary designed by its first minister Charles Follen
Charles Follen
Charles Follen was a German poet and patriot, who later moved to the United States and became the first professor of German at Harvard University, a Unitarian minister, and a radical abolitionist.-Life in Europe:...

.
McBee Methodist Church (Conestee, South Carolina)
McBee Methodist Church (Conestee, South Carolina)
McBee Methodist Church, also known as McBee Chapel, is an historic octagonal-shaped yellow brick Methodist church building located on Main street in Conestee, Greenville County, South Carolina...

, 1842.
Mercy Chapel at Mill Run
Mercy Chapel at Mill Run
Mercy Chapel at Mill Run is an historic Carpenter Gothic-style church located at Selbysport, Garrett County, Maryland. It is a one story, one room frame structure built on an octagonal plan above a coursed stone foundation. The interior of the chapel is a fine example of local craftsmanship and is...

, Selbysport, Maryland, 1874
Seney-Stovall Chapel, Athens, Georgia
Seventh Church of Christ, Scientist (Seattle, Washington)
Seventh Church of Christ, Scientist (Seattle, Washington)
The former Seventh Church of Christ, Scientist, located at 2555 8th Avenue, West in the Queen Anne Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, is an historic Christian Science church edifice. Built in 1926, it was designed by noted Seattle architect Harlan Thomas in the Neo-Byzantine, Mission...

, 1926, an irregular octagon
The Temple (Old Orchard Beach, Maine)
The Temple (Old Orchard Beach, Maine)
The Temple is a historic octagon-shaped Baptist church building on Temple Avenue in Ocean Park, Maine within the town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine....

, 1881, is an octagonal Free Will Baptist Church
Free Will Baptist Church
Free Will Baptist is a denomination of churches that share a common history, name, and an acceptance of the Arminian theology of free grace, free salvation, and free will. Free Will Baptists share similar soteriological views with General Baptists, Separate Baptists and some United Baptists...

.
Third Church of Christ, Scientist (Washington, D.C.)
Third Church of Christ, Scientist (Washington, D.C.)
Third Church of Christ, Scientist, established in 1918, is a Christian Science church in downtown Washington, D.C. The church is located in a brutalist-style building at 16th and I Street NW that was built in 1970. Since opening, the building has not been well suited for the church, which has...

, 1971
Union Chapel (Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts)
Union Chapel (Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts)
Union Chapel is an historic octagon-shaped church building in Oak Bluffs, on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.The chapel was built in 1870 as a non-denominational house of worship. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 7, 1990. It is also known as the Oak Bluffs...

, 1870.

Farm buildings including barns

Kinney Octagon Barn
Kinney Octagon Barn
The Kinney Octagon Barn is an octagonal barn built in 1880just north of Burr Oak, Iowa. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 19, 1986.-External links:* * *...

, Burr Oak, Iowa
Secrest Octagon Barn
Secrest Octagon Barn
The Secrest Octagon Barn is an historic octagonal barn which is located near Downey, Johnson County, Iowa. The barn was constructed in 1883 by George Frank Longerbean, an untrained builder, for Joshua Hunt Secrest, a local farmer. On November 5, 1974, it was added to the National Register of...

, Downey, Iowa
Octagon Barn (Jamaica, Iowa)
Octagon Barn (Jamaica, Iowa)
The Octagon Barn built in 1881 is an historic octagonal barn locatednear Jamaica in Richland Township, Guthrie County, Iowa. On June 30, 1986, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places....
Fobes Octagon Barn
Fobes Octagon Barn
The Fobes Octagon Barn built in 1883 is an historic octagonal barn located on IA 286 near Lanesboro, Iowa. On June 30, 1986, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places....

, Lanesboro, Iowa
Roberts Octagon Barn
Roberts Octagon Barn
The Roberts Octagon Barn built in 1883 is an historic octagonal barn located on CR W62 near Sharon Center, Johnson County, Iowa. On June 30, 1986, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.-External links:* *...

, Sharon Center, Iowa
Octagonal Poultry House
Octagonal Poultry House
The Octagonal Poultry House, also known as the Walter P. Taylor Octagon, is an historic octagonal farm building located in Cold Spring, in Lower Township near Cape May, New Jersey. It was built to house hens, who supposedly like to nest in corners. Eventually it became a children's playhouse...

, Cold Spring, New Jersey
Tim Thering Octagon Barn (Plain Wisconsin), 1893.

Government buildings

Navajo Nation Council Chamber
Navajo Nation Council Chamber
Navajo Nation Council Chambers is the center of government for the Navajo Nation. The landmark building, in Window Rock, Arizona, is significant for its association with the 1930s New Deal, and its change in Federal policy for relations with Native Americans, as established in the Indian...

, a National Historic Landmark in Window Rock, Arizona
Window Rock, Arizona
Window Rock is the seat of government and capital of the Navajo Nation, the largest territory of a sovereign Native American nation in North America. Window Rock contains the Navajo Nation Council, the Navajo Nation Zoological and Botanical Park, as well as the Navajo Nation World War II Memorial...
Octagon Building (Santa Cruz, California)
Octagon Building (Santa Cruz, California)
The Octagon Building is an historic redbrick octagonal government office building in Santa Cruz, California. It was built in 1882 to serve as the Santa Cruz County Hall of Records. It later became the Museum Store for the adjacent Museum of Art and History....

, 1882. Originally the Santa Cruz County Hall of Records. It later became the Museum Store for the adjacent Museum of Art and History. It is now an upscale coffee shop called Lulu's at the Octagon.

Hotels

Brightwood Beach Cottage
Brightwood Beach Cottage
Brightwood Beach Cottage is an historic octagonal building on the southern shore of Lake Ripley in Litchfield, Minnesota that once was a part of the Brightwood Beach Resort of the late nineteenth century. On May 22, 1978, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places...

, in Litchfield, Minnesota
Litchfield, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 6,562 people, 2,624 households, and 1,653 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,748.4 people per square mile . There were 2,741 housing units at an average density of 730.3 per square mile...
Octagon Hotel
Octagon Hotel
The Octagon Hotel, originally built as the Nassau House by Luther Jackson in 1851, was a pre-eminent political and social meeting space in Oyster Bay, New York...

, Oyster Bay, New York

Houses

The Gallup House, Jefferson, Iowa, birthplace and childhood home of George Gallup
George Gallup
George Horace Gallup was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a successful statistical method of survey sampling for measuring public opinion.-Biography:...

, opinion research pioneer.
House of the Seven Gables (Mayo, Florida)
House of the Seven Gables (Mayo, Florida)
The House of the Seven Gables built in the 1880s is an historic octagonal house located on the corner of Clark and Bloxham streets, North West, in Mayo, Florida. After reading The House of the Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Mitchell designed this house and had it built by Mack Koon....

, 1880s, Seven sides are gabled while the eighth leads into a rear wing.
Richard Peacon House
Richard Peacon House
The Richard Peacon House, also known as the Octagon House, is an historic octagonal house located at 712 Eaton Street in the Old Town district of Key West, Florida...

, Key West, Florida, 712 Eaton Street, 1885, contributing property in Key West Historic District
Key West Historic District
The Key West Historic District is a U.S. historic district located in Key West, Florida. It encompasses approximately 4000 acres , bounded by White, Angela, Windsor, Passover, Thomas and Whitehead Streets, and the Gulf of Mexico...

. Owned by Calvin Klein in the 1980s. May be the southernmost octagon house in the continental United States.
Albert S. Potter Octagon House
Albert S. Potter Octagon House
The Albert S. Potter Octagon House, also known simply as the Octagon House, is an historic octagonal house located at 4 Carolina Main Street on the corner of Shannock Hill Road in the village of Carolina in Richmond, Rhode Island. It was built by watchmaker Albert S. Potter in 1857...

, Richmond, Rhode Island, 1857, contributing property in the Carolina Village Historic District.
North east corner of Rapids Dr and Mt. Pleasant St Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
Brockway home, Homer, Michigan
The Octagon House in Columbus, Georgia, also known as May's Folly is an octagonal building built in 1829.

Libraries

Goodnow Library
Goodnow Library
The Goodnow Library is an historic public library building located at 21 Concord Road in Sudbury, Massachusetts. It is named for Sudbury-native John Goodnow, II, who died in 1851 and left to the town of Sudbury a site for a library, $2,500 to build it and $20,000 to buy books and to maintain it...

, Sudbury, Massachusetts
Andover Public Library (Andover, Maine)
Andover Public Library (Andover, Maine)
The Andover Public Library built in 1899 is an historic octagonal-shaped library building located at 46 Church Street in Andover, Maine. On January 27, 1981, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.-References:*...

Lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

s

Eldred Rock Light
Eldred Rock Light
The Eldred Rock Light is an historic octagonal lighthouse adjacent to Lynn Canal in Alaska. It is the last of the ten lighthouses constructed in Alaska between 1902 and 1906...

, Alaska
Cape Henry Light, Virginia
Point Judith Light
Point Judith Light
The Point Judith Light is located on the west side of the entrance to Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island as well as the north side of the eastern entrance to Block Island Sound. The confluence of two waterways make this area busy with water traffic and the waters around Point Judith are very cold and...

, Rhode Island
Portland Observatory
Portland Observatory
The Portland Observatory, built in 1807 at Portland, Maine, is the last surviving maritime signal tower in the United States. Using both a telescope and signal flags, two-way communication between ship and shore was possible several hours before an incoming vessel reached the...

, Maine

Markets

City Market (Petersburg, Virginia)
City Market (Petersburg, Virginia)
City Market, also known as Farmers Market, is an historic octagonal building built in 1878 at 9 East Old Street in Petersburg, Virginia. On June 11, 1969, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places....

Park and fair buildings

Highland Park Dentzel Carousel and Shelter Building
Highland Park Dentzel Carousel and Shelter Building
The Highland Park Dentzel Carousel and Shelter Building is a carousel and building in Highland Park in Meridian, Mississippi. Manufactured about 1896 for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition by Gustav Dentzel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the carousel was sold and shipped to Meridian...

, Meridian, Mississippi

Schools and colleges

Charter Oak Schoolhouse
Charter Oak Schoolhouse
The Charter Oak Schoolhouse is a historic redbrick octagonal-shaped school building in Schuline, Illinois, on the Evansville/Schuline Road between Schuline and Walsh. Built it 1873, it served as a public primary school until 1954 when it was closed and its students were sent to a newer central school...

, Schuline, Illinois
Octagonal Schoolhouse (Essex, New York)
Octagonal Schoolhouse (Essex, New York)
The Octagonal Schoolhouse built in 1827 is an historic stone octagon-shaped school building located in the hamlet of Boquet in the western part of the town of Essex, New York. On January 17, 1973, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places....
Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse and Octagonal School
Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse
Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house at 1245 Birmingham Road in Birmingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The current meetinghouse was built in 1763 and added to the National Register in 1971. The building and the adjacent cemetery were near the center of...

, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Chester County, Pennsylvania
-State parks:*French Creek State Park*Marsh Creek State Park*White Clay Creek Preserve-Demographics:As of the 2010 census, the county was 85.5% White, 6.1% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 3.9% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 1.8% were two or more races, and 2.4% were...

, a property listed on the NRHP
Sheldon Jackson School, Sitka, Alaska, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)
Octagonal Schoolhouse (Cowgill's Corner, Delaware), a property listed on the NRHP
Charter Oak Schoolhouse
Charter Oak Schoolhouse
The Charter Oak Schoolhouse is a historic redbrick octagonal-shaped school building in Schuline, Illinois, on the Evansville/Schuline Road between Schuline and Walsh. Built it 1873, it served as a public primary school until 1954 when it was closed and its students were sent to a newer central school...

, Schuline, Illinois, a property listed on the NRHP
Modern Times School
Modern Times School
Modern Times School, also known as District 12 School and Brentwood School, is a historic school building located at Brentwood in Suffolk County, New York. It was built in 1857 and was originally a small, one story, frame octagonal building sheathed in board and batten siding and surmounted by a...

, Brentwood, New York, a property listed on the NRHP
Octagonal Schoolhouse (Essex, New York)
Octagonal Schoolhouse (Essex, New York)
The Octagonal Schoolhouse built in 1827 is an historic stone octagon-shaped school building located in the hamlet of Boquet in the western part of the town of Essex, New York. On January 17, 1973, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places....

, a property listed on the NRHP
Florence Corners School, Florence, Ohio, a property listed on the NRHP
Sodom Schoolhouse
Sodom Schoolhouse
Sodom Schoolhouse is a historic octagonal school in West Chillisquaque Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States reportedly built about 1812, 1835, or 1836 and used until 1915...

, Montandon, Pennsylvania, a property listed on the NRHP
Hood Octagonal School
Hood Octagonal School
The Hood Octagonal School in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania was built in 1841 and served as a local school into the twentieth century....

, Newtown Township (Delaware Co.), Pennsylvania, a property listed on the NRHP
Octagon Stone Schoolhouse, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, a property listed on the NRHP
Wrightstown Octagonal Schoolhouse, Wrightstown, Pennsylvania, a property listed on the NRHP

Stores

Andrew Gildersleeve Octagonal Building
Andrew Gildersleeve Octagonal Building
The Andrew Gildersleeve Octagonal Building, also known as Mattituck, the Octagon House and Mattituck Octagon House is an historic octagon house located at Main Road and Love Lane in Mattituck, New York...

, Mattituck, New York, combination residence and store