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The Octagon House, located in Washington D.C, United States of America is, despite its name, shaped like a hexagon. In the center of the building is a large winding staircase, which serves as a corridor leading to the rooms. It was built to maximize space on the small lot on which it is built. The Octagon House, as it came to be known, was completed in 1801 in the very early days of the new federal city. Constructed for John Tayloe III and his wife Ann Ogle Tayloe, and designed by Dr. William Thornton—the first architect of the Capitol—the house was a prominent statement of support for the new capital city from one of Virginia’s most prominent families.

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  • The Octagon House
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  • The Octagon House, located in Washington D.C, United States of America is, despite its name, shaped like a hexagon. In the center of the building is a large winding staircase, which serves as a corridor leading to the rooms. It was built to maximize space on the small lot on which it is built. The Octagon House, as it came to be known, was completed in 1801 in the very early days of the new federal city. Constructed for John Tayloe III and his wife Ann Ogle Tayloe, and designed by Dr. William Thornton—the first architect of the Capitol—the house was a prominent statement of support for the new capital city from one of Virginia’s most prominent families.
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abstract
  • The Octagon House, located in Washington D.C, United States of America is, despite its name, shaped like a hexagon. In the center of the building is a large winding staircase, which serves as a corridor leading to the rooms. It was built to maximize space on the small lot on which it is built. The Octagon House, as it came to be known, was completed in 1801 in the very early days of the new federal city. Constructed for John Tayloe III and his wife Ann Ogle Tayloe, and designed by Dr. William Thornton—the first architect of the Capitol—the house was a prominent statement of support for the new capital city from one of Virginia’s most prominent families. The house served as an important social center in Washington’s early years, and when the British burned the White House in 1814, President Madison and his family lived in the Octagon for six months as the city rebuilt. It was here that President Madison signed the Treaty of Ghent in February 1815, formally ending the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States. The Tayloe family lived in the house until Anne’s death in 1855. By that time, the neighborhood around the house had changed significantly as factories and breweries filled the Foggy Bottom waterfront. After Anne’s death, her sons rented the house, first to a Catholic girls school, and later to the federal government for office space. By the 1880s, the building housed numerous poor families as a tenement. Around that same time, the American Institute of Architects, which had been headquartered in New York City, began looking for a new national headquarters location in Washington, DC. In 1898, the AIA rented the Octagon, and the organization purchased the building in 1902. Major restoration efforts were undertaken in the 1960s and the 1990s, which returned the Octagon to its Tayloe-era appearance. Currently operated by the American Institute of Architects Foundation, the Octagon Museum offers self-guided tours, permanent and changing exhibitions, public programing, and guided tours by appointment. The Octagon House is rumored to be home to several ghosts.
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