Draft:James Coolidge Octagon Cobblestone House



The James Coolidge Octagon Cobblestone House in the village of Madison in Madison County, New York, built around 1850, is a rare example of an octagon house that is also a cobblestone house and is believed to be the only such house in existence. The Coolidge Cobblestone Octagon House is located on US-20 in Madison, Madison County, New York. It is located in the Village of Madison which is in the Town of Madison, which is in Madison County.

It is denoted "Mad-5, Gerow" in the Cobblestone Structures Catalog of the Cobblestone Society and Museum; its owner of record, as of 1904, was Gerow. The catalog editor noted: "Octagon House is a correct descriptive term in this case as it does have eight sides. The front five visible sides are equal in size and geometrically correct for a symmetrical octagon configuration; however, the three rear sides are different with a larger center wall with a single story wing attached, and two smaller adjacent walls."

It is asserted by Schmidt (1966) that this is "the only cobblestone residence ever to be erected."

It is believed by Albion, New York's Cobblestone Society and Museum and by writer Richard Palmer (whom the Cobblestone Society and Museum cites in addition to other sources) to be the only octagonal cobblestone house existing.

If it was in fact built in 1840, then according to Shelgren, Lattin and Frasch (1978) its style foretold the coming of Italianate architecture.

Palmer (2018?), on the other hand, notes that the house "features the same plain unostentatious early Italianate styling that Fowler himself proposed in his drawings. The simple cornice with its overhanging eaves is right out of the book. But this house also features exquisite twin column framing on either side of the entrance door, a reminder of the Neo-Classical elegance that was still popular in the United States." Orson Squire Fowler's book, The Octagon House: A Home For All, is said to have first been published in 1848; its printing by Fowlers and Wells is dated 1850.

What became the Italianate architectural style in the U.S. was popularized by Alexander Jackson Davis, developing out of his "bracketed style"(?), in the 1840s and 1850s, working in the Hudson River Valley. This, however, was Fowler's region, too: the first Octagon house, known as Fowler's Folly, was located in Fishkill, New York, overlooking the Hudson and was widely visible. It was built of concrete beginning in 1848, the year of publication of his book, and was ultimately demolished --by dynamite -- in 1897.

There does exists another cobblestone octagon building: it is located at 8273 Alloway Road in Lyons, New York in Wayne County, New York, built originally as a blacksmith shop. It was built for a Mr. Hyde and has 12.5 ft sides.

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It has a Greek Revival-style entrance framed by doric columns.

Its exterior walls have an air space built in.

It has very prominent cut limestone quoins.

The Coolidge House has cut stone quoins.