The Octagon

The Octagon may refer to:

See also

The Octagon (Heidelberg University)

The Octagon is a historic octagon house on the campus of Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, United States. Built in the mid-19th century, it has been used for residential purposes throughout its history, and while it has experienced over a century of gradual deterioration, it has been named a historic site, and the 21st century has seen plans to restore it to its original integrity.

The Octagon was constructed in 1852, and other than Founders Hall, it was the first building constructed on Heidelberg's campus. Constructed along with the President's House and the Gerhart-Rust Residence, it was, like the others, intended to be used as faculty housing. Its builder and earliest resident was polymath Jeremiah Good, the college's professor of mathematics and also the man responsible for designing Founders Hall. During and after Good's lifetime, he and his family owned the house; since that time, it has passed through a succession of owners, most of whom have been connected to the college in some way. Little upkeep has been performed on the house for many years, permitting it to fall into disrepair; already by 1910 it had been subdivided into a pair of apartments, and during the 1960s it was rented by the college and used as a student dormitory. The university finally purchased the house in 2007, after a wealthy man from New Bremen gave a large sum of money to the institution. Since that time, students, faculty, and administrators have discussed the proper method of using the Octagon; a class of students studying concepts of space and place conducted a small informal archaeological excavation, finding nothing substantial, while officials have debated restoring the property.

The Octagon House

The Octagon House, also known as the Colonel John Tayloe III House, is located at 1799 New York Avenue, Northwest in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

History

Designed by William Thornton, the first architect of the United States Capitol, the Octagon was built between 1799 and 1801 in Washington, D.C. Colonel John Tayloe III, for whom the house was built, owned Mount Airy Plantation, located approximately one hundred miles south of Washington, D.C., in Richmond County, Virginia. Tayloe was reputed to be the richest Virginian planter of his time, and built the house in Washington at the suggestion of George Washington on land purchased from Benjamin Stoddert, first Secretary of the Navy.

John Tayloe III was born at Mount Airy in 1771, educated in England, served in the Virginia state legislature, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1800. John Tayloe III married Ann Ogle in 1792 at her family’s home Belair Mansion. Ann was only a year younger than her husband.