The OES visited the M.M. Crites Octagon House on October 25, 2003. This unique eight-sided home in Circleville is believed to have been built between 1855-56 by a man named George Gregg. The house may have been built to resemble the octogonal courthouse that was at Circleville’s center when the town was originally laid out in the form of a circle. The home featured a large free-standing spiral staircase in its center leading up to the second floor. The rooms were divided like a sliced pie. Every room had a door on each side to allow people to walk from room to room. The oak and pine woodwork of the home’s interior was spectacular. With a house this unique, who would want it gone? Apparently Walmart did. This created much controversy in Circleville because Walmart bought the land where the old Crites house sat to built a new Supercenter. Walmart originally wished to simply demolish the home to begin construction on their new store. Luckily the Roundtown Conservancy group came to the rescue! The group was able to raise enough money to move the home out Walmart’s way. In 2004, the home was raised, placed on a trailer and moved a little farther down the road. The home was eventually placed on a new foundation along Crites Road, but there has been no further progress in developing the site. Even though the building still sits unused as of this 2015 posting, it is better than losing the structure to the wrecking ball. The Roundtown Conservancy is still raising money to make repairs to the home. If you would like to donate to the cause, please visit the Roundtown Conservancy’s website. Thanks to Carla Gill for sending in the photo of the Octagon House on the trailer.
Location Information: Restoration In Progress
The M.M. Crites House is located at the bend in Crites Road in Circleville; Pickaway County.
Photographs
The M.M. Crites Octagon House as it appeared on our first visit in 2002.
An old tire swing hung from a tree on one side of the house.
The old M.M. Crites barn.
The Octagon House as it appeared on our 2003 trip.
A small outbuilding was on one side of the house.
Looking out of a second story window over Pickaway County's plains.
Looking down onto the Octagon House's lawn.
Circleville's famous pumpkin water tower as seen from the Crites property.
The front door led to the center of the house.
This chain once held a light above the front door.
The corner closet of the family room.
The family room's ceiling fan.
We're not sure what purpose this hole served. Perhaps a laundry chute?
This door to the exterior was inside a bathroom.
The shower and tub of the only bathroom in the house.
The toilet was in the corner of the room.
The medicine cabinet was on the same side of the wall as the internal door.
There was a large hole in the kitchen's ceiling.
The fireplace in the middle of the kitchen.
A closer look inside the fireplace.
Hookups for kitchen appliances. You can see where the kitchen counter used to be.
This closet probably served as a pantry.
A boarded over fireplace in the house's parlor.
An old lighting fixture in the parlor.
The parlor's closet was being used for storage. Maybe this was the mantle that used to be in the parlor.
The free-standing spiral staircase at the center of the octagon house.
Looking up to the second floor.
Looking down to the first floor from the second floor balcony.
Walking down the free-standing staircase.
These steel support rods were installed in the 1980s to help support the staircase.
Underneath the first few stairs of the spiral staircase.
Looking to the balcony from a second floor bedroom.
Only a few of the poles that supported the railing were missing.
A hole in the ceiling above the spiral staircase was where the cupola was located.
Here you can see the stairs that led to the cupola windows.
Looking up through the hole in the ceiling.
Another view looking into the cupola.
The fireplace in this second floor bedroom was still intact with its original ironwork.
Another look at the fireplace in this room.
The wallpaper and black ceiling were contrasting in this room.
A close up view of the doorway's woodwork.
This room's walls were covered with blue wallpaper.
The closet door of the blue room.
The next room over had white walls and dark wood trim. This was the room's fireplace.
In the dark wood room's closet it what appeared to be an old washboard.
This narrow stairway led up to the cupola.
The boards of the wall supporting the cupola stairway were a little wider than the others.
Behind the wall was the structure that supported the roundness of the second floor's ceiling.
This narrow stairway led down from a bedroom to the kitchen.
Notice how the ceiling curved in the main hallway of the second floor.
The ceiling was also curved around the pointed windows.
Looking out of the window toward the barn outside.
This doorway connected two bedrooms on the second floor.
A boarded fireplace in another room of the house.
Looking out from the bedroom to the second floor balcony.
The fireplace of another upstairs bedroom.
This door led to the blue room.
This door led from the dark wood trim room to the room with the iron fireplace.
The floors were outlined in darker wood.
Another look at where the dark and light wood met.
A look inside the walls of the octagon house.
Another look inside the wall showed how it was constructed.
This rusty hook was found by an OES member inside one of the walls.
Someone else found this rake in a closet.
The basement door.
Several doors were stacked in this room.
The freshly installed no trespassing sign.
The Octagon House as it appeared on April 13, 2004. It was moved to safety and awaited a new home.
