Octagon House Architecture - Port Hope Ontario - Canada - - Center Area - Heritage
In Victorian times, one of Port Hope's captains of industry was William Barrett, a Cornishman from Bathepoole, England, who arrived here with his wife and family in 1831.
Mr. Barrett, during the heyday of his prosperity, built Port Hope's famous Octagon house on Martha Street. The Octagon was featured in an earlier Cornerstones column, which briefly outlined the principles of Orson Squire Fowler, an American writer, phrenologist and amateur architect. Fowler published a book called The Octagon House - A Home for All in which he boldly declared, "The troubles of the American nation would be over if everyone would live in an octagon...living in an octagon house ... a family cannot help but be content and happy!"
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Octagon House Architecture - Port Hope Ontario - Canada - - Center Area - Heritage
In Victorian times, one of Port Hope's captains of industry was William Barrett, a Cornishman from Bathepoole, England, who arrived here with his wife and family in 1831.
Mr. Barrett, during the heyday of his prosperity, built Port Hope's famous Octagon house on Martha Street. The Octagon was featured in an earlier Cornerstones column, which briefly outlined the principles of Orson Squire Fowler, an American writer, phrenologist and amateur architect. Fowler published a book called The Octagon House - A Home for All in which he boldly declared, "The troubles of the American nation would be over if everyone would live in an octagon...living in an octagon house ... a family cannot help but be content and happy!"
169