Estabrook Octagon House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Estabrook Octagon House
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Northwest corner, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | 8 River St., Hoosick Falls, New York |
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| Nearest city | Bennington, VT |
| Area | 2 acres (8,000 m²) |
| Built | 1853–54 |
| Architect | Estabrook, Ezra |
| Architectural style | Octagon Mode |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002755 |
| Added to NRHP | February 8, 1980 |
The Estabrook Octagon House is a special old house in Hoosick Falls, New York. It was built in 1853 by Ezra Robinson Estabrook. What makes it unique is its eight-sided shape, like an octagon! It was built exactly how Orson Squire Fowler, who wrote a book called A Home for All, thought houses should be.
This house is still in great shape and looks almost exactly as it did when it was first built. It's one of the very few octagon houses that followed Fowler's ideas so closely. Because it's so important, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 8, 1980. The house has had only a few small changes over the years. For example, the cool railing design on the roof used to be repeated on the porch roof and a small tower called a cupola.
Contents
What Makes the Estabrook Octagon House Unique?
The Estabrook Octagon House sits on a two-acre lot. It is located at the corner of River Street and the Boston and Maine Railroad tracks. This area is mostly residential, with many other houses from the 1800s.
How the House Looks
The house has two stories. Its outer walls are covered in stucco, which is a type of plaster. Underneath the stucco, the walls are made from a mix of grout and Rosendale cement. A small square porch sticks out from the east side of the house.
The house has a pattern of windows: some sides have one window, and others have two. The roofline is decorated with a fancy wooden trim called a bargeboard. Above this trim, there's a detailed wooden crest. You can also see several small dormer windows, which are windows that stick out from the roof. Two chimneys rise from a small, decorative tower called a cupola in the center of the hip roof.
Inside the Octagon House
Inside, each floor has four large rooms. The main staircase wraps around a central post. Smaller rooms, like bathrooms and closets, are also part of the design.
History of the Estabrook Octagon House
Ezra Estabrook was inspired to build his unique home after reading Orson Squire Fowler's book. The book was called A Home for All, or a Cheap, Convenient and Superior Mode of Building. A new version of this book came out in 1853, just before Estabrook started building.
Who Was Orson Squire Fowler?
Fowler was a phrenologist, someone who studied the shape of people's heads to understand their character. But he also had ideas about architecture. He was fascinated by shapes found in nature, like the octagon, and thought they could be used in buildings. In his book, he said that octagon-shaped houses could be built cheaply by homeowners themselves.
Building the House
Ezra Estabrook followed Fowler's advice closely. He did most of the building work himself. He used Fowler's exact plans, including the cupola and the alternating one-two window pattern.
Estabrook made only one change: the building material. Fowler had suggested using a mix of water, lime, and gravel, because these materials were easy to find everywhere. However, the Estabrooks chose a mix of Rosendale cement and local gravel. This was because these materials were available nearby and had proven to be very strong. Ezra Estabrook even kept a diary during construction. He wrote about pouring as much as one foot (about 25 centimeters) of the mixture into wooden forms each day.
Life in the House and Today
Estabrook's family lived in the house for almost 100 years, until 1943. The inside of the house has changed very little since it was built. It is one of the few octagon houses still standing that was built exactly as Fowler had planned.
Today, the Estabrook Octagon House is no longer a private home. It is now used by Marker's Octagon Reality, a business that helps people with real estate in the Hoosick Falls area.
