{"nrhp_refnum":"80000592","name":"Barker, Richard, Octagon House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"312 Plantation St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.26973627700005,"lon":-71.77062163599999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A residential octagonal house at 312 Plantation Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, built about 1855-1865 by an unknown architect, with stucco over stone-chip walls.","why_significant":"It is one of only two octagonal houses remaining in Worcester and a rare example of gravel-wall construction, a method promoted by Orson Squire Fowler but seldom used, since most octagon houses were built of wood. Its fanciful style and uniqueness are cited as reasons to preserve it.","narrative":"Built between about 1855 and 1865, this octagonal house at 312 Plantation Street in Worcester is one of only two surviving octagonal homes in the city. Its eight outer walls are made of stone chips and finished in stucco incised to look like masonry, with pilaster-like raised sections topped by paired brackets. An octagonal cupola once crowned the roof but was removed before the 1920s, and an entry porch was added around 1925. The design reflects a mid-nineteenth-century fad driven by Orson Squire Fowler's books, which urged building eight-sided houses, ideally of poured gravel and mortar walls. Most octagon houses were of wood, so gravel-wall examples like this one are very rare. The first known occupant was Richard Barker, a carpenter, who lived here in 1866. Because the fad had mostly faded by then, he may have bought the house from an earlier owner. Its rarity and distinctive character are the reasons given for preserving it.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Octagonal Mode","criteria":[],"status_note":"Present use is residential; the cupola was removed before the 1920s and an entry porch was added about 1925.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.927735-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/47/7928/63792847/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000592.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000592/b93ce84d3d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000592/b93ce84d3d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Pvmoutside","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Barker_Octagon_House_Worcester_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pvmoutside</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Barker_Octagon_House_Worcester_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792847","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Barker_Octagon_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7323955"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/barker-richard-octagon-house-80000592/"}