THE CULTIVATOR. 
Octagon Houses. 
Messrs. Editors Co. Gent. —I am not a mechanic, 
but claim to be a progressive, and as such feel a deep 
interest in whatever is designed to promote the happi¬ 
ness of man. The subject of dwelling-houses I regard 
as of this character. Our houses cost in the aggregate, 
an immense amount of money, and it appears to me 
that we do not always build in good taste ; nor in such 
manner as to secure the greatest amount of comfort 
and convenience for a given expenditure ; nor, I may 
add, so as to promote the health of our families by 
proper ventilation, bathing conveniences, large airy 
rooms, &c. I have been a housekeeper more than 
twenty-five years, and during all that time have occa¬ 
sionally spent evenings in drawing plans of houses, 
hoping thereby to make some valuable improvements 
over ordinary plans, for the benefit of whomsoever 
should choose adopt them. What we know of geometry 
satisfies us that neither you nor I can expect to live long 
enough to exhaust the subject, even though we should 
do nothing else but draw plans while life lasts. Man A! 
plans I have heretofore drawn, have been regarded as 
20Ffc. 
space, I tried what skill I possessed in that direction ; 
but crooked, odd shaped rooms had such a tendency to 
make me cross-eyed , and thus caused me so much pain , 
that I finally abandoned it as impracticable to admit 
of square or rectangular rooms, such as I think the 
principal rooms of a good house ought to be. 
A few days ago, happening to be looking over the 
books at our principal book-store, my attention was 
drawn to a book entitled “A Home for All,” by 0. S. 
Fowler, Esq., on Octagon houses. I have read this 
book with much interest; but the plan he calls “ the 
best plan yet,” on page 161, does not at all suit me. 
The rooms are about as broad as they are long, and as 
usual with these plans, the inner corners are cut off; 
and another fatal objection exists, in the close proximity 
of the kitchen to the dining-room, provided the latter 
is ever to be used for any other purpose. The heat 
and flies in summer, and smell of cooking at all times, 
renders this “ best plan ” very undesirable, in my esti¬ 
mation. 
Figure 13, on page 84 of Mr. Fowler’s book, and the 
suggestion of a friend, caused me to draw the first floor 
of the Octagon plan which I send you. The carrying 
2<VFt. 
First Floor— 49 ft. 2 in., if Brick— 48 ft., if Wood. 
Basement— 20 feet to an inch. 
possessing rare merits, and although they have suited 
me as well or better than any others I have seen, yet 
none of them ever fully satisfied me. I have always 
proceeded upon the assumption that every intelligent 
family requires a kitchen, pantry, store-room, dining¬ 
room, parlor, library, nursery, bath-room and clothes 
press, all large and conveniently arranged, on the first 
fioor. I do not remember to have seen a plan publish¬ 
ed containing all these conveniences, except upon a 
scale so extensive as to be too expensive for persons of 
limited means. 
Some six or eight years ago, knowing the capacity 
of walls built in the form of an Octagon, to inclose 
out of the plan in detail is my own, and removes all 
my objections to the outside form adopted ; nay, more, 
it settles the question in my mind that this is the best 
plan I have ever seen, for the following reasons: 
1st. Economy of building; the walls inclosing more 
room tor their length than any other desirable shape ; 
and only one chimney required. 2d. Symmetrical 
proportions of the plan throughout. 3d. Although 
simple in form, its perfect convenience can scarcely be 
excelled, if equaled. 4th. The close proximity of one 
room to another, and yet the kitchen is shut off from 
the front part of the house by two doors and an entry, 
as it ought to be in every house of much size. 5th. 
The fact that only one side, or one end, of any room 
