Octagon house on Marshall Historic Home Tour September 12-13

MARSHALL, MI – George and Debra Whelan love old houses. They also love challenges.

 

Visitors to the 52nd annual Marshall Historic Home Tour September 12-13 can view the Whelan’s latest challenge, Marshall’s octagon house originally built 1856, which is being presented on the home tour as under restoration. Octagon houses were a mid-1800s housing fad and were promoted as providing a healthier and more efficient lifestyle. Only about 500 survive nationally.

 

Marshall’s octagon house is one of seven private residences on the tour. Also included among the 24 tour sites are tour favorite Oakhill, the 1835 National House Inn and eight museums.

 

The Whelans acquired the octagon house in 2009 but didn’t begin serious restoration efforts until moving here permanently from New Jersey in 2013. They plan to restore the building to its original footprint. In the 1920s, it had been converted into a rooming house with many small bedrooms.

Their first project was the downstairs bathroom. They recently redid the entryway and main hallways on the first and second floors. Interior woodwork has been pieced back together or replaced as necessary. Currently underway in the warm weather are outdoor projects of repairing the exterior stucco and windows.

 

The Whelans’ previous challenge was their 1870s Second-Empire-style New Jersey home that Debra said was a 20-year effort. As they neared retirement, they were interested in another restoration project. Debra said they weren’t seeking an octagon house specifically and had preferences for Italianate and Greek Revival architectural styles. They also were looking in southern states.

 

However, they noticed an ad for the Marshall home in Preservation magazine. George and one of their sons were able to visit Marshall, look at the octagon house and take many photos. The house does have some Italianate features. Debra said they fell in love with the home. “It needed a lot of work but it had so much potential. Everything is here. The house just needed someone to give it some TLC (tender loving care),” she added.

 

Orson Fowler, who was a national advocate for the benefits of octagon houses, had lectured in Marshall in 1850. Fowler also was a promoter of the pseudoscience of phrenology. He presumably influenced Increase Pendleton, the builder of what is now the Whelan home.

 

Marshall Historic Home Tour hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13. Parking and shuttle buses are free. There will be musical entertainment at the tour homes and magicians performing at Oakhill. Activities also include an arts-and-crafts fair at the Honolulu House Museum, a Civil War Ball on Saturday evening and a community picnic Sunday after the tour ends.

 

$17 through Monday, September 7 and $20 beginning September 8. For tickets and more information, visit the tour webpage at www.marshallhometour.org or call the Honolulu House Museum at (269) 781-8544. Jeff Greene, home tour general chairman, noted the tour buildings represent the many sides of Marshall. Many are important to the city’s history. They exhibit a variety of architectural styles. Two show off reuses of the upper floors of downtown commercial buildings. There are specialty museums presenting unusual collections.

 

Tour buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places are the 1835 National House Inn, the oldest operating inn in the state; the 1839 Governor’s Mansion, built with the expectation of Marshall becoming the state capital; Oakhill, the 1858 home of a successful local merchant; the 1860 Honolulu House, built by a former U.S. consul to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands; the 1860 Capitol Hill School, and the 1870 Wagner’s Block, home to EastEnd Gallery & Studio.

 

The tour’s seven private residences present Gothic Revival, Octagon, Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival architectural styles. Three residences are new to the tour this year. Another hasn’t been on the tour since 1967.

 

The apartment above Grannies Attic and the on-going renovation of the upper floors of EastEnd will give home tour visitors insights on how the previously forgotten upper spaces of downtown buildings can be reclaimed.

 

The American Museum of Magic has the largest collection of magic artifacts on public display in the country. The Marshall Post Office Museum houses the largest collection of American postal memorabilia outside of the Smithsonian Institution. The Walters Gasoline Museum presents nostalgic items associated with gasoline stations and automobiles. The Marshall Historical Museum at the GAR Hall has been updated to tell Marshall’s stories and show items made in Marshall.

 

Five of the 24 tour sites are buildings at the Calhoun County Fairgrounds, home to Michigan’s oldest continuously running county fair. These include the Old Maple Grove Church and Houston School.

 

The Marshall Historical Society uses home tour proceeds to operate and maintains its three museums and to support efforts to preserve, protect and promote Marshall’s historic heritage.