{"nrhp_refnum":"82004745","name":"Dr. Buck-Stevens House","other_names":["Octagon House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brasher Falls","county":"St. Lawrence County","state":"NY","lat":44.80742791000006,"lon":-74.77505725499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-05-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story octagonal residence on West Main Street in the village of Brasher Falls, St. Lawrence County, New York, built between 1855 and 1857 of stuccoed poured concrete on a rubble basement.","why_significant":"It is an intact, representative example of the octagon house type promoted by Orson Squire Fowler in the mid-nineteenth century. It is the sole surviving octagon house in St. Lawrence County, and the number of such houses in New York has dwindled. It was built for Dr. Nathan Buck, the village's first practicing physician, and later owned by the early-settler Stevens family.","narrative":"Eight-sided houses were a mid-nineteenth century fad, and this two-story residence on West Main Street in Brasher Falls is the only surviving example in St. Lawrence County. Built between 1855 and 1857 for Dr. Nathan Buck, the village's first practicing physician, it follows the recommendations of Orson Squire Fowler, whose 1848 book promoted octagonal homes as economical family housing. The house has a rubble basement, poured concrete walls stuccoed to resemble cut stone, a low-pitched roof topped by an octagonal cupola, and a central cherry staircase winding around a brick chimney. Local touches included shuttered French sash windows and a lattice-balustraded porch, removed in the 1940s. A later two-story entrance porch was taken off in the 1970s. Subsequent owners included the Stevens family, early settlers who helped develop the village as a dairy farming and woodenware manufacturing center. The building is vacant and shows some deterioration of its stucco and trim.","period_of_significance":"1855-57","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Octagon house, built in the manner promoted by Orson Squire Fowler","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as unoccupied and vacant, in fair condition; some lintels, window cornices and stucco have deteriorated. Later porch additions were removed in the 1970s.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.446447-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/82004745.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004745/4c2c6bc98c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004745/4c2c6bc98c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Elijlyn","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dr._Buck-Stevens_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Elijlyn</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:Dr._Buck-Stevens_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321878","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Buck%E2%80%93Stevens_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5303996"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/st-lawrence-county/dr-buck-stevens-house-82004745/"}