c. 1850, William Eustis. North side of Perry Rd., 0.3 miles east of Kreklow Rd.
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(Photograph by Paul J. Jakubovich, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society)
Of the many octagons built in Wisconsin, this house, constructed soon after Orson Fowler published his book A Home for All in 1848, is perhaps the earliest one still standing. It is also the plainest, with dentils along the cornice providing the only ornamentation on the plastered limestone walls. A one-story porch with simple, slender columns wraps around two of the house’s eight faces. Inside, the two-story house has four large rooms on each floor, plus smaller triangular rooms, shaped by the octagon’s contours. When Arthur Gafke purchased the house in 1930 he named it Octagonda.