Fowler's Folly
Former octagonal house in Fishkill, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fowler's Folly, built during 1848–1853, was the octagonal home of Orson S. Fowler in Fishkill, New York. It was a "monumental" house for its time, with four stories and 60 rooms.[1] The house was condemned as a public health hazard and dynamited in 1897.[2]
Orson Squire Fowler was author of a book, The Octagon House: A House for All, that was first published in 1848. The book, frequently mischaracterized as a pattern book, ignited a fad for octagon houses in the United States and perhaps also in Canada.