The Octagon Place 1855 - 1992
Octagon Place, one of 27 octagon houses known in Iowa, is a two-story octagonal brick building in a combination of Italian villa and Greek Revival styles. Samuel de Sinnette (who later dropped the de in his name) immigrated to America from Ireland and in 1840 purchased 320 acres of farmland on the northeast edge of Muscatine. He was determined to build a house that would astound the people living nearby. In 1855, at age 38, Sinnette built the beautiful home and made it the site of much lavish entertaining in its day. He and his wife Sarah reared 7 children. Samuel designed the home himself from drawings he had made of an old Scottish castle. Local builders were skeptical of Sinnette's plans and shook their heads in disbelief when he insisted the rooms inside have perfectly square walls and comers. He had to import builders from the east coast to show that such a structure could be built. Octagon Place is usually referred to as having 17 rooms, but it is more accurate to say that the house has 8 rooms, 4 on the first floor and 4 almost identical rooms on the second floor. Adjacent to the 8 rooms are several smaller rooms. There are 6 fireplaces in the home. The 8-sided house offers heating advantages because each of the main rectangular rooms exposes only one wall to the outdoors. One of the advantages of this form of building is that it encloses 20% more floor area than a square plan with an equal length of exterior wall. The basement contains great timbers, crossbeams, and uprights that measure 10 by 10 inches. A basement triangular room was reached by a hidden trap door and tunnel to the road. Legend has it that the house served as an inn during the Civil War period and that the tunnel was used to smuggle slaves to freedom. The winding staircase in the center of the house is considered one of the most beautiful in Iowa. The spiral staircase rises to the second story, up to the attic, and then up to the octagonal tower at the pinnacle of the roof. From the tower windows sunlight streams down to the hallway below. Octagon Place has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974. In 1977 Octagon Place was enlarged, renovated, and converted into a restaurant. Additional remodeling was done in 1986 when Octagon Place was transformed into offices for nonprofit organizations. The West wing was added in 1991.