Michigan Historic Homes: Loren Andrus House

“Loren Andrus Octagon House by Larry the Biker

Made with bricks that Loren Andrus himself made with local clay, the Andrus house is Michigan’s most elaborate remaining example of the Octagon form, considered by many to be the first pure American housing style. The leading authority and promoter of these eight-sided wonders was Orson Squire Fowler who garnered a new interest in architecture when he wrote the book, “Home For All”. The book highlighted the benefits of living in an octagonal home which Fowler believed were less expensive to build and that they permitted additional living space and received more natural light through their large windows and were easier to heat in the winter and keep cool in the summer because of the spiral staircase that encompassed the center of the house leading to the other floors.

In 1986 a non-profit organized to save the house. The Friends of the Octagon continue to restore and maintain the property and you can learn more about it at that link and also at The Octagon House on Michigan in Pictures. There’s also an entry for The Octagon House on the Absolute Michigan map of Michigan.

Another home that follows Fowler’s Octagon form is the Currier home which is on the Historic Register but is private.

Many more Michigan Historic Homes on Absolute Michigan.