Octagon House

The Octagon House is a famous old house in Washington D.C., one of the first built when the upper crust moved to help get the federal city started. It even housed the president (Madison) after the White House burned in 1814.

Recently reopened after renovation, it doesn't have much to see inside. There's a handful of furniture and a few informative panels (dating pre-renovation) but not many other decorations. Some rooms are occupied by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which owns the building. According to the person at the door, the AIA is supposed to be moving out so every room would be on display but the architects haven't yet gotten around to moving. Apparently they like this building better than AIA's modern, block, glass-and-metal headquarters next door.

I took a few pictures.

Incidentally, the house has only six sides. Apparently, at the time the house was built, round foyers were known as octagons, and the name for that room in the house stuck to the whole house.