Devereaux, Nathan B., Octagon House

The Devereaux octagon is a very rare example of a nineteenth-century national architectural mode associated with its leading proponent, Orson Squire Fowler (1809-87). Octagons still catch our eye in the landscape; certainly they were novel, and even radical, forms in the 1850s and 1860s. Only a handful of octagon houses were built in Washtenaw County in the 1800s, and of those just two other examples are known to exist. Octagons are arguably the most uniquely American of nineteenth-century architectural forms, with no clear European antecedents. The Devereaux octagon is particularly exceptional because of its clear link to Orson Squire Fowler. Nathan Devereaux (1817-1897), the builder, traveled to Ann Arbor to hear Orson Squire Fowler lecture on the benefits of building and living in an octagon house. He subsequently purchased the current edition of Fowler's book entitled A Home for All; or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building. New, Cheap, Convenient, Superior and adapted to Rich and Poor. This book is still in the Devereaux family's possession. The Devereaux octagon meets National Register Criterion C because of its rare architectural form.

The Devereaux octagon house is located in rural Northfield Township within Washtenaw County. The house faces north on unpaved Eight Mile Road with woods and some open fields in the immediate vicinity. Inspired by a lecture given by Orson Squire Fowler in the 1850s, Nathan Devereaux constructed this home in 1864. It is a hip-roof one-and-a-half story frame building topped by an octagonal cupola. On the exterior, the eight sides of the main building are equal in length, although a small rectangular utility room projects from the rear side. The foundation is of fieldstone. Currently the exterior walls are covered over with white asbestos siding and the roof is of grayish-white asphalt shingles. On the interior, the rooms are generally rectangular in shape, with triangular closets (or in the case of the front door, a vestibule) to square off the corners. Both exterior and interior ornamentation is fairly flat and simple, although the front door and parlor have been highlighted with various architectural details. From its inception in 1864 to the present (2002), the house has been owned by the Devereaux family. The house is in excellent condition, both inside and out, due in great measure to the efforts of Nathan's grandson, John Devereaux (1908-1997), as well as the continuing attention given to it by John's widow, Vivian. The modernizations and few alterations made to it have left the integrity of this rare original octagon farmhouse intact.