{"nrhp_refnum":"82002197","name":"Longfellow-Hastings House","other_names":["Octagon House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"85 S. Allen Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pasadena","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.14448917400006,"lon":-118.11332277699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-03-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An octagonal two-story wood house with a belvedere, built in 1893 at 1515 San Pasqual Street in Pasadena, California, and moved about one mile to 85 South Allen Avenue in 1917. It was built under the supervision of Gilbert Longfellow.","why_significant":"The house is presented as a rare Western example of the octagon style, of which only a limited number of structures remain in the United States. It follows the octagon designs promoted by Orson Squire Fowler and repeats an earlier octagon house Longfellow built in Maine. Historians Gebhard and Winter called it one of the few tributes to Fowler's ideas left in California.","narrative":"This octagonal house in Pasadena, California, was built in 1893 under the direction of Gilbert Longfellow, a Maine native who moved his family west for a son's health. It is a two-story, tongue-and-groove sided building with a brick foundation, a basement, and a belvedere atop a truncated pyramidal roof. The house is 38 feet across and holds four square rooms on each floor, arranged around a central stairway and chimneys. Longfellow followed the octagon style promoted by Orson Squire Fowler and repeated the design of an earlier octagon house he had built in Maine, swapping the roof deck for a belvedere. In 1917 the house was moved about one mile to South Allen Avenue, where two porches were added. It was recognized as a local landmark in 1973. Few octagon houses survive nationwide, and historians described this one as among the few reminders of Fowler's ideas in California. The Longfellow family kept ownership for generations.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Gilbert Longfellow","architectural_style":"Octagon (Fowler-style octagon house)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Occupied private residence at the time of nomination; in poor-to-fair condition with water damage under the eaves from a deteriorating shake roof. Later notes in the file say it was moved again.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.511675-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/82002197.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002197/2d8f70b782-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002197/2d8f70b782-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sgerbic","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heritage_Square_Museum_Octogan_house.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sgerbic</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:Heritage_Square_Museum_Octogan_house.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859271","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longfellow%E2%80%93Hastings_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6673781"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/longfellow-hastings-house-82002197/"}