Patch Passport: Travel Back in Time to Barrington Main Street

Among the many restored buildings in Barrington, the Octagon House, also known, as Hawley House remains one of the most interesting structures from a bygone era. 

The circa 1860 structure located at 223 South Main Street is currently home of Thermek, a manufacturer that specializes in assembly and fabrication, but has been a private home for much of it life span, according to The National Register of Historic Houses.

The house was built by a Mr. Brown, whose first name might have been Joseph, but there are no official records to confirm that. 

The building is one of only a few remaining octagonal houses in good condition in the country and represents the type of architecture written about in an 1850 book by Andrew Jackson Browning titled “The Architecture of a Country House” and Orson S. Fowler’s 1853 book: “The Octagon House: A Home For All,” where the author claimed the superiority of the style as “cheap, convenient and superior.” 

The National Register of Historic Houses Application, submitted for the house by Mrs. Floyd Hawsley in June 1975, describes the house in loving detail and can be found in its original form here

The document describes the house as having “beautifully carved and jig sawed brackets supporting the roof of the porch which encloses the house and the similarly detailed screens that cover the foundation from view.”

It also notes that the nails used in the construction were hand forged and none were machine made.  The support brackets and decorative screens were cut by hand with a jigsaw and hand finished.

Although the outside of building is intricate, the inside is “conventional” with none of the octagonal corners showing.

Two additions have been built: the back porch was removed to install a kitchen 1920 and another bedroom was added in 1951 neither affected the integrity of the architecture.