Built 1860 Designated NHL December 8, 1976 Area 1 ha Added to NRHP 18 December 1975 | NRHP Reference # 75001238 Opened 1860 Architectural style Octagon house | |
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Similar The Octagon House, Rich‑Twinn Octagon House, Château Charle‑Albert, Villa Lewaro, Sunnyside | ||
The Armour–Stiner House, also known as the Carmer Octagon House, is a unique octagon-shaped and domed Victorian style house located at 45 West Clinton Avenue in Irvington, in Westchester County, New York. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. It is known that other domed octagonal residences were built in the United States, but it is unknown if any of them still exist.
The house was built in 1859–1860 by financier Paul J. Armour based on the architectural ideas of Orson Squire Fowler, although the specific architect of the house is unknown. The dome was added and the house was enlarged during 1872–1876 by Joseph Stiner, who was a tea importer. The Armour–Stiner House is said to be one of the most lavish octagon houses built in the period, and is now one of only perhaps a hundred still extant.
The house was occupied from 1946 to 1976 by historian Carl Carmer, who maintained that the house was haunted. In 1976, the house was briefly owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to prevent it from being demolished. The Trust was unable to fund the amount of renovation the property required, and sold it to a preservationist architect, Joseph Pell Lombardi, who has conserved the house, interiors, grounds and outbuildings.
The house remains a private residence. It is located on the south side of West Clinton Avenue, on the crest of a hill overlooking the Hudson River, to the west. It is about 1650 feet from the river, and about 140 feet above it, consistent with Fowler's siting ideas. The Old Croton Aqueduct, another National Historic Landmark, abuts the property on the east.