Site icon Ruth E. Hendricks

Octagonal Houses Were A Fad

Around 1850! Who knew?

The words Hendricks House on the historical marker caught my eye as I was a passenger in the back seat. We were at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck a couple of weeks ago and staying in Red Hook where this landmark is located. It’s the town’s Public Library.

Built in 1865. Randi pulled over so I could capture these pics.

“The Hendricks House is a rare surviving example of the octagonal concrete form of house construction popularized in the mid-19th century by phrenologist and author Orson Squire Fowler, whose book A Home for All (1850, 1854) launched a nationwide fad for octagonal buildings. Between 1847 and 1856, Fowler built his own octagonal concrete house in nearby Fishkill, which may have provided inspiration for local builders in Dutchess County”

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