🌀 Round and Round I Go!
A Look at Three Extraordinary Spiral, Round, and Octagon-Shaped Homes in New York State!
This fall has had me going in circles, literally! I've been visiting three incredibly unique and inspiring homes that all take their cues from spirals, circles, and octagons!
Each of these architectural wonders has its own fascinating history, and I was lucky enough to get inside all three! From an unexpected open house to a spontaneous personal tour, these visits turned out to be quite the adventures.
Come along and take a look!
🌀 The Spiral House
Spiral House Park | Saugerties, NY
The Spiral House is an extraordinary five-story architectural sculpture created by artist Tom Gottsleben, who, along with his wife Patty Livingston, spent nearly four decades transforming an abandoned bluestone quarry into a remarkable landscape filled with art and nature.
The 45-acre property is home to more than 50 of Gottsleben's sculptures, created from bluestone, stainless steel, and crystal glass. The entire environment takes inspiration from natural patterns, geometry, and, of course, spirals!
I got incredibly lucky and happened to visit when they were having an open house, which meant I could explore the interior of this unusual home!
The spiral theme runs through the house and the surrounding artwork. At the home's center stands a magnificent spiral staircase of polished stainless steel and translucent glass. It winds upward through all five floors, allowing light to travel through the structure.
Seeing this staircase in person was a marvel, especially the glass elements that create such an unusual relationship between the floors and ceilings. The entire house feels like one enormous work of art that you can actually walk through!
Tom Gottsleben passed away in 2019, but his wife continues to be involved with the property and its preservation. In 2025, the grounds opened to the public as Spiral House Park, allowing visitors to experience the world they created together.
The house itself is just one part of the experience. Wandering the grounds and discovering sculptures nestled throughout the landscape makes it clear that Gottsleben's artistic vision extended far beyond the walls of his home.
Learn more: https://spiralhousepark.org
🏡 The Tower House Sanctuary
Saugerties, NY
Just down the road from the Spiral House is another architectural wonder, the wonderfully whimsical Tower House Sanctuary!
This fantastical, lighthouse-shaped home was created by artist, sculptor, and designer John Kahn, who collaborated with Jim Henson and worked on projects involving Fraggle Rock.
What began as a small cabin evolved over approximately 15 years into an extraordinary five-level architectural sculpture filled with curved walls, handcrafted woodwork, unconventional windows, and an incredible variety of materials and textures.
It is the sort of house that looks as though it belongs in an imaginary world!
And my visit here turned into something completely unexpected!
I was driving past, admiring this remarkable house, when the owner noticed me looking and asked if I'd like to see the inside.
OF COURSE, I SAID YES!
What followed was a fabulous personal tour of this architectural wonder!
The interior is filled with surprising shapes, colors, textures, and handcrafted details. Every room seems to reveal another unusual element. There is something especially wonderful about being inside a home where traditional architectural rules appear to have taken a little vacation.
One of the highlights was getting to go up to the upper balcony, where I was able to walk completely around the circular, lighthouse-like structure!
It was such a magical and unexpected experience. I had simply been curious enough to drive by and take a look, and suddenly I was being invited inside!
The Tower House is now being shared with the public through special events, exhibitions, and scheduled visits, allowing others to experience this remarkable creation.
Learn more: https://www.towerhousesanctuary.com
🏛️ The Armour-Stiner Octagon House
Irvington, NY | Near Sleepy Hollow
Last but certainly not least, the spectacular Armour-Stiner Octagon House!
Located in Irvington, near Sleepy Hollow, this extraordinary eight-sided Victorian home looks like something straight out of a wonderfully eccentric storybook.
Originally constructed around 1860 by financier Paul J. Armour, the house received its elaborate transformation in the 1870s when tea merchant Joseph Stiner purchased the property.
Stiner added the magnificent two-story dome, an ornate wraparound veranda, and an extravagant assortment of architectural details and colors.
The result is what is considered the only known fully domed octagonal residence of its kind in the world!
The house nearly fell into ruin before preservation architect Joseph Pell Lombardi purchased it in 1978 and began the enormous undertaking of restoring it to its former Victorian glory.
We booked the Myths & Mysteries of the Octagon House tour, which explored the home's fascinating history, unusual residents, and stories of ghosts and mysterious happenings.
One particularly amusing fact we learned was that the house has had eight owners!
HA! Eight owners for an eight-sided house! This blog post is picture-heavy because they tell the real story! I was especially fond of the cabinet of curiosity in the study! See below!
The tour was fascinating, with beautifully restored rooms, elaborate architectural details, and plenty of curious history.
But our visit had one more delight in store!
At the end of the tour, we were treated to a fabulous exhibition titled Remember You Must Die, featuring objects from the Memento Mori collection of Ryan Matthew Cohn.
The exhibition explored the ways people throughout history have understood and confronted death, mourning, memory, and mortality through art, objects, and ritual.
There were fascinating historical artifacts and wonderfully unusual objects, making it a particularly fitting exhibition to experience during the Halloween season, especially in a house with its own collection of ghost stories!
The exhibition was a limited engagement, running from September 25 through November 2, 2026. Learn more: https://armourstiner.com
Coming Full Circle! 🌀
Thanks for coming along with me and letting me show you three wonderfully distinct homes, with very different histories, and a whole lot of imagination swirling about! Whether created by an artist, sculptor, or an eccentric Victorian homeowner, each of these places shows what can happen when someone decides to think beyond the ordinary and follow their own vision and path.
Round and round I go... who knows what unusual place I'll discover next? Have any cool suggestions for great places to visit? Let me know! Ok BACK to painting! If you haven't already joined, come over to my Patreon for FREE to see ALL I have been up to this year! It's a bit of a secret, so only those who join see it for now! COME OVER!
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