Nathan B. Devereaux Octagon House

Nathan B. Devereaux Octagon House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	66425 Eight Mile Road, Northfield Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan
Coordinates	42°25′46″N 83°41′56″W / 42.42944°N 83.69889°WCoordinates: 42°25′46″N 83°41′56″W / 42.42944°N 83.69889°W
Built	1864
Architect	Nathan Bartlet Devereaux
Architectural style	Octagon Mode
NRHP Reference #	03000177
Added to NRHP	April 2, 2003[1]

The Nathan B. Devereaux Octagon House is an historic octagonal house located at 66425 Eight Mile Road in Northfield Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan. The house is one of only three extant octagonal houses in Washtenaw County, and remains in excellent and near original condition.^[2] It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.^[1]

History

At some point in the 1850s, Nathan Bartlet Devereaux travelled to Ann Arbor to attend a lecture by Orson Squire Fowler, the leading proponent of octagonal houses.^[2] Inspired, Devereaux purchased a copy of Fowler's book, "A Home for All; or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building. New, Cheap, Convenient, Superior and Adapted to Rich and Poor." In 1864, Devereaux put Fowler's ideas to use and built this house.

Nathan Bartlet Devereaux died in 1897^[2] and passed the house along to his son John Wilson Devereaux.^[3] Nathan Devereaux's grandson John Francis Devereaux lived in the house until 1997.^[2] As of 2006, it was still being occupied by descendants of Nathan Bartlet Devereaux.^[4]

Description

The Devereaux house is a one-and-a-half story, octagonal frame structure with a hipped roof surmounted with an octagonal cupola.^[2] The house sits on a fieldstone foundation, and is symmetrially shaped with eight equal sides. A small utility room is attached to the rear of the structure. The house is clad with white asbestos siding and asphalt shingles on the roof. There is little ornamentation on the exterior or the interior. Interior rooms are generally rectangular in shape, with triangular closet space.^[2]

References

1. National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. "Devereaux, Nathan B., Octagon House". Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
3. Mary L. Wermuth; Michigan Centennial Farm Association (1986), Michigan's centennial family farm heritage, 1986: a Michigan sesquicentennial history, Ferguson Communications, p. 89, ISBN 0917231058
4. University High School Newsletter (PDF) (59), July 2006, p. 8