Stephen Harnsberger House
Encyclopedia
The Stephen Harnsberger House, also known as the Harnsberger Octagonal House, is an historic octagon house
located on Holly Avenue in Grottoes
, Virginia
.
The house was built in 1856, three years after the publication of A Home For All, or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building by Orson Squire Fowler
. Rather than following the tenets of the book, which suggested a radially-oriented plan with functions for every side, the plan of the Harnsberger house is more akin to a tradition double-pile center-hall house of the kind that was prevalent in Virginia at the time. The center hall is flanked by two very deep rooms, with smaller rooms behind, divided from the front rooms by chimneys. On both the basement and second floor levels a central passage extends the depth of the house. This is in contrast to the wedge-shaped rooms advocated by Fowler.
The house exhibits Greek Revival
detailing, typical of the time. Interior woodwork is mostly intact. The house received an ell addition to the rear housing a kitchen by 1890.
The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places
on July 8, 1982. Harnsberger's brother Robert built an octagonal barn
a few miles away in 1867, which is also listed on the National Register.
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 plan, and often feature a flat roof and a veranda all round...
located on Holly Avenue in Grottoes
Grottoes, Virginia
Grottoes is an incorporated town in Augusta and Rockingham counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 2,114 at the 2000 census....
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
The house was built in 1856, three years after the publication of A Home For All, or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building 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....
. Rather than following the tenets of the book, which suggested a radially-oriented plan with functions for every side, the plan of the Harnsberger house is more akin to a tradition double-pile center-hall house of the kind that was prevalent in Virginia at the time. The center hall is flanked by two very deep rooms, with smaller rooms behind, divided from the front rooms by chimneys. On both the basement and second floor levels a central passage extends the depth of the house. This is in contrast to the wedge-shaped rooms advocated by Fowler.
The house exhibits Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
detailing, typical of the time. Interior woodwork is mostly intact. The house received an ell addition to the rear housing a kitchen by 1890.
The house was added to 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...
on July 8, 1982. Harnsberger's brother Robert built an octagonal barn
Harnsberger Octagonal Barn
The Harnsberger Octagonal Barn, also known the Mt. Meridian Octagonal Barn, is located near Grottoes, Virginia. Built about 1867, the barn is possibly the only example of such a barn in Virginia, as the building style was more popular in the expanding midwestern United States in the immediate...
a few miles away in 1867, which is also listed on the National Register.