The times., 1897-04-11
THE OCTAGON HOUSE.

ASScAcS,
hear that that house is haunted by wild
and beautiful spirit, it acquires an interest
and beauty OF its own.''
Even before Sheley's fair young widow
penned these words, the ghost seal had
been placed on the Octagon House. 1t has
long been the most noted of the haunted
residences of Washington. Whether the
wild spirit which haunts it is indeed
beautiful, no one seems to be able to state,
but IT Is certain that while ghosts have come
and ghosts have gone in tie Capital, pub
lie interest i'll the Octagon House has never
abated. Its outlook is not upon "a desc
late iaDe," for it occupies the northeast
corner of New York avenue and Eighteenth
street. one block east rise the white
marble walls OF the new corcoran Art Gal
lery The White House and the State,
War and Navy building are but a few steps
farther away. Westward stretches what
was, half century ago, the fashionable
section of the city. Across the Mall
CLEANS the Potomac, the hills of Virginia
form the background OF the picture, and
the Washington Monument occupies the
middle distance.
The house was begun in 1898 by John
Tayioe, virsinian of the OLD school, and
known in history as the intimate friend of
Washington. Tayloe was one of the few
really wealthy men Of his day, having
been the owner OF countless slaves. and
at least half dozen broad estates in the
Ola Dominion. Tradition asserts that the
house was built with the advice and
a the suggestion of Washington, hut it
is difficult to believe that the conser-
vauvc and dienified master of Mount
vernon had ausht To do with the plan
of this eccentric structure, the walls Of
which form three sides of an octugon.
1t was finished in 1901. The front en-
trance is portico, with ten broad stone
steps, ana stone pavement for floor.
Over ana around it tran neglected vines. a
ponderous door, and a knocker. seem
ingly useless with age, complete the
melancholy tout ensemble The dingy
brick walls of the house converge to
ward the rear, where other brick walls,
fully ten feet in height, enclose a gar
den, which is entered from the rear
porch-a small hooded structure, paved
with broken tiles The entire property
includes $4,000 square feet of ground
even now OF immense value, and likely TO
increase
The front door opens on large circular
vestibulc, which, in the palmy days of
long ago, was paved with white marble,
with centerpiece brought from Italy, aud
now to be seen in the form OF a table
top, as portion Of the Tayloe collection
in the Corcoran Art Gallery. This vesti-
bule contains two inches in which stand
two small stoves, red with rust, and said
to have been placed there by the first
lord and master of the house
The circular vestibule leads into the
hall, from which rise stairways, with old
fashioned, easy landings, leading to the
second and third stories 1t the right
and left OF the hall, doors lead into what
were once the drawing-room ana the spa
cious dining-room.
The former was an apartment of un-
usual magnifiCence, and still contains
the stucCo IAanteipiece, of fine Italian
workmanship. for which wealthy United
States Senator has offered $500 This
mantelpiece consists of female figures
cherubs, and garlands, in high relief,
and grouped with alleguricaI signili canoe
The room which contains it was once the
social center of the young republic; for,
when the White House was burned by
the British, John Tayloc placed mis- town
house at the disposal OF the President,
who occupied it for more than a year
The rCGm in which Dolly Madison held
her official receptions and danced the
Ininuet is now the Kitchen. dining room
aud bed chamber OF the caretaker and his
son. Thee walls, which In earlier days
Were huns, with portraits OF stately sQuiIes
and danes, have no adornment save
cheap Autographs, destitute of frames.
The exquisite mantelpiece, which once
upheld costly candelabra and rare works
of art, IS occupied by homely household
utensils.
The caretaker is employed as messenger
in one of the executive departments. ana
occupies as much OF the house as he desires,
paying no rent, and receiving no pay for
his services as custodian. He is strong
and dark, Of fine physique. and ridicules
the blood-curdling tales which have made
the house famous.
'If there are any ghosts here, I've
never heard or seen Them he laughingly
declares. THE only ghosts that haunt
this house exists in peoples agination.''
The writer quoted LOngfellow's asser-
ton that
.'An houses wherein men have ever lived
are haunted"
.'Is that so,' said the caretaker. We'll,
I'm not afraid of anything that haunts
around here
In the department directly opposite only
the rats hold carnival now, feasting ON
heavens knowswhat. The hospitality which
was once dispensed within its walls was
lpf in l1ylSbDpSS and yatipup of
Tayloe slaves, al wayson hand, provided safe
and comfortable places above stairs for
those who found it overrowering. In this
apartment Madisons state dinners were
given.
The circular room just above the vestibule
was hisoffice Here he received the soldiers
and statesmen OF the day, and here was
signed the famous treaty of Ghent- The
room adjoining it on the right was his
library, and the closet on the left still ron-
tains the pegs on which many of our ma
tional celebrities hung their hats and top
coats.
Never were there queerer closets and
wardrohes than this house contains, but tho
crowning eccentricityi is the back stairway,
which must have been planned by an archi-
tect suffering with delirium tremens Dark
stories are told of the groans and cries
which emanate fromthe passage which con-
tains this stairway, and there are hints of
q closet which opened into it, now sealed,
and all traces of it forever obliterated
Just whose crime has rendered the
house undesirable as a residence has never
been fully determined, but popular Opiil-
ion fixes the blame on the roistering old
Virginian who built it. Blood ran high