Octagon House, a fine example of late Georgian architecture, was the Washington home of Col. John Tayloe, wealthy Virginia planter and friend of General Washington. Her, from 1800 to 1828, official society was entertained with elegant extravagance and here after the burning of the Executive Mansion by the British in 1814, President Madison was invited to establish a temporary White House. With the winsome Dolly Madison as hostess, Octagon House reached its height and social power and glamor. The proclamation giving the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, was signed by President Madison in one of the upper rooms. After the Civil War the house was confiscated as property owned by southerners and used as a military hospital. Later the growing business district pressed in upon this once fashionable neighborhood and Octagon House had a succession of tenants, inducing a Catholic school for girls and a Government department, eventually falling into a condition of dilapidation and decay.
It was the favorite haunted house in Washington. The ghost of Colonel Tayloe's daughter who, grieving over her thwarted love for a young Englishman, threw herself down the great stairway, is said to appear in wavering candlelight. Legend also has it that a murdered slave girl, another suicide, and the ghosts of slaves wander screaming through the house and grounds. Underground passages to the White House and to the Potomac, now walled up, and the many hidden doors and stairways give color to the legends. At midnight Dolly Madison is believed to hold court again among the shades of pretty women and stately men. Perhaps she meets a restless ghost in her garden where once, according to tradition, Aaron Burr climbed the 10-foot wall to say good-bye to her before leaving for Europe to escape his political enemies.
Octagon House was saved from ruin in 1902 by the American Institute of Architects. The institue purchased and restored it for occupancy (Stanford White was among the architects who initiated the movement to restore Octagon House), and has continued its use as a historic house-museum open to the public. The first floor is not furnished except in the right wing.
Dr. William Thornton, original designer of the Capitol and of Tudor Place, made the plans for Octagon House at the turn of the century, 1799-1800, when the taste for Adam houses prevailed. In spite of its name its form is actually hexagonal, broken by the circular tower or bay in which the main entrance is located, so planned in order to take advantage of the angle between Eighteenth Street and New York Avenue. Built of English brick, it is unusually well preserved. Only one important change has ever been made on the exterior; a sloping roof and a cornice have replaced the original flat deck roof and attic parapet. A worn flight of steps with delicate handrails and newel-post lamps leads up to the pillared entrance portico and wrought-iron balconies of exceptional grace attend the second floor windows. -Washington, City and Capital, 1937, pg. 447-450.
The Octagon House is operated as a house museum by the AIA Legacy, Inc, a branch of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The AIA owned the house from 1902 until 1968 when it was transferred to the American Architectural Foundation (AAF). In 2009 the ownership was transferred back to the AIA. During this time five major restorations occurred. The most recent restoration was in 2005. Information on the restoration work can be found at this
website. Tours are available on Thursday and Friday afternoons.
The house was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1960