Octagon House
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The Round House (Octagon House)
1874, Dan Idol, builder. Round House Rd., 0.2 miles east of Old Mill Rd.
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(Virginia Department of Historic Resources)
Located on the west side of the New River, near the mouth of Big Wilson Creek, this one-story octagonal building is a rare house type for Virginia. It was under the influence of Orson S. Fowler's The Octagon House, A Home for All (1848) that a few octagonal houses were built in the commonwealth. Of weatherboarded frame construction on a stone and brick foundation, the house has a central chimney that anchors the building and rises through a bracketed octagonal roof projection. Unusual semi-octagonal window and door openings carry the octagonal theme through to the details. The building's riverside location has caused multiple inundations from floods throughout its lifetime.
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