This video is part of the Genesee Country Village & Museum audio tour series. Click through all the videos in the playlist to learn about life in New York during the 19th century.
Transcript:
During the mid-19th century, Americans became fascinated with exotic architecture, mostly adopted from other countries and cultures. One purely American contribution to this trend was the octagon, or eight-sided house. In 1848, Cohocton New York native, Orson Fowler, published A Home for All; or a New, Cheap, Convenient and Superior Mode of Building, which was all about the advantages of the octagon house. They were healthier than traditional, rectangular houses, he said, because they provided more sunlight, and better ventilation, and they were economical because they eliminated wasted square footage.
Soon octagon structures dotted the landscape from New England to Wisconsin. Most were built between about 1850 and 1870. There were eight-sided houses, from grand homes to simple country dwellings. There were also eight-sided barns, churches, schoolhouses, carriage houses, garden houses, smoke houses, and even privies.
Eventually, the taste of octagons faded. Today there are about 2,000 octagon buildings left in the United States, many are in New York State. In 1978, the museum acquired the Hyde House, which was built in 1870 in Friendship, Allegany County, NY. It remains one of the most popular buildings at the museum today.
