McElroy Octagon House, Historic octagonal residence in Cow Hollow, San Francisco, United States.
The McElroy Octagon House is an eight-sided wooden building on Gough Street in San Francisco, with two floors joined by a central winding staircase. Rectangular windows run along the sides of the structure, giving the building its distinctive eight-sided outline that sets it apart from the surrounding neighborhood.
William McElroy had the house built between 1860 and 1861, following ideas put forward by writer Orson Fowler, who had argued for octagonal homes in his widely read book from 1848. The style attracted followers across the United States for a time before falling out of fashion.
The National Society of Colonial Dames uses the house as a museum, displaying furniture and objects from the 1800s that show how prosperous families arranged their homes. Walking through the rooms gives a clear sense of the tastes and domestic habits of that period.
The house opens to visitors only a few times each month through guided tours, so it is worth checking the schedule before making the trip. Tours are kept small, which means places fill up and planning ahead helps.
During renovation work, builders found a tin box hidden inside a wall on the upper floor, containing documents that named the original builders and early residents. Without that chance discovery, much of what is known today about the house's origins would likely have remained unknown.
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