LISTING DETAILS
The Historic Octagon House is a home for all with many potential purposes. This historic gem is two houses in one! The main home, an antique, has been a museum of local history for the past 38 years, but is now available for your family to love and cherish as a family heriloom. The carriage house is a separate home, to rent out, or have as your mother-in-law suite.
This National Landmark home built by Isaac Brown in 1856 was placed on the National Registry in 1972. This unique 8 sided, 1.5 story architecture with 12 room layout could be used for a homestead and or business. The carriage house, as a rental, generates $900 per month including utilities. There is also a 17'x18' log house. An underground tunnel runs from the house to the cabin. A spacious yard, and a charming home can be yours with this historic gem.
FROM A PREVIOUS LISTING
Originally built as an Indian Fort and Trading Post, the Octagon House of Fond du Lac was later used as a safe house for runaway slaves during the Civil War. Architecturally unique, this oddity has 12 rooms, and nine passageways!
At one time served as a Museum, open for summer tours and seasonal events, the Octagon House also hosted dinner tours by candlelight.
HISTORY via Wikipedia
Isaac Brown, a carpenter and trader with Native Americans, reportedly grew fearful of attacks from them in 1856, so he built a house that was designed for hiding. An Orson Fowler-designed eight-sided structure, it contained nine secret passageways and spaces. A tunnel was built between the house and a woodshed, which was used as a safe house on the Underground Railway. A small storage room beneath the front porch was used to hide the runaway slaves. Brown gave the house to his son Edwin A. Brown as a wedding present. The younger Brown and his wife Ruth Edward (Pier) Brown had three children in the house. The house became a rental unit in 1900, and remained so until the late 1960s to early 1970s.
Plans for a new high school threatened the house. Despite the house being on the National Register of Historic Places, no buyers were interested and it was days away from demolition. Local dressmaker and antiques dealer Marlene Hansen bought the house without viewing the interior. Hansen and her family restored the house, turning it into a historic and spooky tour house.
HISTORY via The USA Today
An historic home turned life's work for one Fond du Lac woman is now closed to the public.
For
decades, the eclectic Octagon House at 276 Linden St. played host to
bus tours and costumed theme dinners, drawing people from as far away as
Europe to view its unique architecture and colorful past.
In
its heyday, Octagon House served as a station along the Underground
Railroad. The structural oddities would have been effective means for
hiding, and then transporting slaves by waterway along the nearby Fond
du Lac River. The living room has a false fireplace with a small wooden
stairway behind it and there is also a secret room adjacent to a
second-story bedroom, with a cryptic message carved in the lath.
Presumably
dated 1888, the message appears to give directions to a secret meeting.
An underground tunnel leads from the house to a log cabin on the
property.
The
story of how Marlene Hansen came to own the Octagon House dates back to
the early 70s and was then steeped in controversy, as a small group
battled to save the building from demolition by the state.
"At
the time I thought I was purchasing the property for the 'Save the
Octagon House Committee' but that proved not to be the case," she said.
Now, Hansen said, she is just too tired to carry on the work by herself.
She
has rented the home to a private party. Part of the agreement calls for
Hansen leaving her collection of antiques and vintage costumes in
place, for now.
Back
in 1856, when the one-and-a-half story, odd-shaped home was built by
former Mayor Isaac Brown, it was located farther south than any
structure in the city, on the border of marshland abutting lands
occupied by Indians. Far beyond lay the unsettled, old Northwest
territory.
These
days the city neighborhood that was built up around Octagon House has
become run down, with some landlords not keeping up their properties,
Hansen said. The area has a higher crime rate, she added, evidenced by
recent drugs busts in the area led by Fond du Lac Police.
Hansen
purchased the home from the state in 1975 for $25,000 and received an
additional $16,000 grant under the National Historic Landmarks Act. She
said it was the first time that a private citizen in Wisconsin received
federal money to acquire property for historic preservation.
Because
public funds were involved, Hansen was required to keep the building
open to the public 12 days a year and any exterior alterations had to be
approved by the State Historical Society.
Over 40
years, Hansen said she has put at least $150,000 into the house, and
just can't do it anymore. She sold off an adjacent old house that she
had also restored and used as a rental property.
Because
of its architecture, the Octagon House was designated as an historic
landmark by the City of Fond du Lac in 1991 and is included in the
National Register of Historic Places. Dyann Benson, Fond du Lac's
Community Development Director, said it also serves as an anchor to the
Linden Street Historic District, that starts at 253 Linden Street and
ends at 304 Linden Street. Houses in this district offer a unique
grouping of architecture styles, from Italianate to Queen Anne.
There is more about the history of the house at the link to the article below.
FOR SALE $123,500
276 Linden St, Fond Du Lac, WI 54935
5 beds | 2 baths | 2419 sqft | .33 acres
LINKS:
Listing Agent, Zillow, Realtor, Octagon House Facebook Page, Business Website, USA Today Article (History), Wikipedia,
Featured Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment