Octagon

Ebenezer W. Beckwith House (1854)

Built on Prospect Hill Road in Cromwell in 1854, the Ebenezer W. Beckwith House is one of very few Octagon houses in Connecticut. The house served as a residence and boarding school, which by 1866 was known as the Mineral Springs Military Institute. Later, the house was rented by Dr. Winthrop B. Hallock as a retreat for the insane. In 1887, Hallock purchased the house from Beckwith’s daughter and it became the main structure of the private sanitorium known as Cromwell Hall. After Cromwell Hall closed in the 1950s, the house became the administration building for Holy Apostles College and Seminary. Various additions have been added to the building over the years, including the porte-cochere.

Joseph Williams House (1855)

The Joseph Williams House is one of two octagon houses which sit side-by-side on Marlborough Street in Portland. Following a similar design, both the Williams House and the neighboring Gilbert Stancliff House were built of brownstone, with a stucco-covered exterior, between 1853 and 1855. The octagon is an eight-sided house form popularized by Orson Squire Fowler in the mid-nineteenth century through his book, The Octagon House, A Home for All. Williams was a grocer and a brother-in-law of Stancliff, who was the superintendent at the Portland brownstone quarries. It is possible that Gilbert Stancliff’s brother Charles, an architect and builder, constructed both of the octagons. The brothers were descendants of James Stancliff, Portland’s first settler. Today, the Williams House serves as an apartment building.

Gilbert Stancliff House (1855)

Located in Portland, on Route 66, the Gilbert Stancliff House is an octagon house, a style that was briefly popular in the mid-nineteenth century and gets its name for its eight-sided shape. Octagon houses were promoted by Orson Squire Fowler in his book, The Octagon House, A Home for All. Very few octagon houses survive, with perhaps only 15 or so still standing in Connecticut. The Stancliff House stands side-by-side with another octagon, the Joseph Williams House. They are said to have been built for two brothers. The Stancliff House currently houses doctors’ offices. The exterior was refurbished in 2004, reproducing the original paint colors.