Octagon House (Watertown, Wisconsin) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Octagon House
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 Location in Wisconsin
Location in the United States
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| Location | 919 Charles St., Watertown, Wisconsin |
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| Built | 1853 |
| Architect | Richards, John |
| Architectural style | Octagon Mode |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000039 |
| Added to NRHP | November 23, 1971 |
The Octagon House in Watertown, Wisconsin is a really cool and unique old house. It's also known as the Octagon House Museum or the John Richards Octagon House. It was built in 1854 and is famous because of its eight-sided shape! In 1971, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's a special building worth protecting. An architect named Rexford Newcomb even said in 1950 that it was "probably the best-planned octagon house in the country."
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A Unique Home: The Octagon House History
Who Built This Amazing House?
The Octagon House was designed and built by a man named John Richards. He was a very important person in early Watertown. John Richards was a lawyer and owned a mill. The house was finished in 1854.
The Richards family lived in the house for a long time. It stayed in their family until John's grandson, William Thomas, passed away in 1935. The family wanted the city to have the house. It was then sold to the Watertown Historical Society, which was started in 1933. The house first opened to the public as a museum in 1938. Today, it is still a museum you can visit!
What Makes This House Special?
The Octagon House is built from brick. It is about 50 feet wide, not counting the balconies. Each floor has eight square rooms. There are also triangular rooms in the corners. In total, the house has 32 rooms, including a small room at the very top called a cupola.
The house originally had porches, or verandas, all around it. These were made of wood. By 1924, the porches were old and unsafe. John Richards' daughter had them taken down. For many years, people could only imagine the porches by looking at a small model of the house. The porches were rebuilt in 1978. They cost about $50,000 to fix! By 2006, they needed fixing again. Luckily, someone gave money anonymously to restore them once more.
Inside the Octagon House
Inside the house, there is a cool spiral staircase in the middle. It connects all the floors. The railing and spindles of the staircase are made from cherry trees that grew on John Richards' land. This staircase is built around four chimney flues that stick out above the cupola.
John Richards also designed a special air conditioning system for the house. Air came in from below the roof, traveled through ducts in the brick walls, and then flowed into the main rooms. The roof was shaped like a funnel. It collected rainwater into a tank on the third floor. This tank then supplied water to a few faucets in the house.
The kitchen was in the basement. It had a huge Dutch oven that could bake 24 loaves of bread at once! A dumbwaiter was used to carry food from the kitchen up to the dining room.
The Man Behind the House
John Richards moved to Wisconsin in 1836. He ran a grist mill across the Rock River from where his house now stands. He later became the first district attorney for Jefferson County. He was also elected justice of the peace and was an early mayor of Watertown.
In 1840, he brought his wife, Eliza Forbes, from Massachusetts. He reportedly promised her he would build her the finest house in the best town in Wisconsin Territory. The Octagon House certainly lived up to that promise!
In 2004, the Richards family descendants held a big party to celebrate the house's 150th anniversary.
Gallery
See Also
- Octagon house: This article talks more about octagon houses. It even uses the Watertown Octagon House as an example!
- List of octagon houses
- First Kindergarten: This was the first kindergarten in the United States. It is located on the same grounds as the Octagon House.
