Explore the Octagon House, a unique and historic home in Irvington: Local Hidden Gem

From overlooked roadside attractions to offbeat museums and obscure natural wonders, Local Hidden Gems will showcase some of the unique and unexpected treasures that make America extraordinary. We will emphasize charm, surprise and delight.

Local hidden gem: The Armour-Stiner Octagon House in Irvington, New York

Who knew octagon-shaped, domed Victorian-style houses still existed? Or were ever created?

Even avid history buffs will be surprised by the beauty and uniqueness of The Armour-Stiner Octagon House, a private home in Irvington, New York, that, on select days, is open to the public.

The home offers a glimpse of a bygone era when Westchester County was the "country," enticing people from Manhattan to buy summer homes.

Looking like something you might see in Europe, the fanciful structure is the only fully domed octagonal residence in the world. The home features extensively carved wood scrollwork, detailed cast-iron cresting and shades of raspberry, blue, violet, gray, tan and red.

Originally built in 1860 as a relatively modest octagon house, it was completely reimagined in 1872 by Joseph Stiner, a prominent New York City tea merchant, who fashioned it after an ancient classical Roman temple. He added a cupcake-like dome, 56 columns, 280 brackets, 560 hand-carved leaves and a colonnaded porch.

The house is named after Stiner and another former owner, financier Paul J. Armour. Subsequent owners were equally creative. One, in fact, was a Finnish explorer who lived with a female pirate. There are even tales of a former resident who's now a ghost.

Like many historic homes, the structure went through years of neglect before being acquired in 1977 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 1978, Tribeca architect and preservationist Joseph Pell Lombardi bought the house, meticulously restored it and later wrote a book about it.

Local hidden gems: A spotlight on the American treasures in our backyards

What's really striking, aside from its lyrical exterior and interesting history, is the down-to-the-doorknobs restored interior, each room more intriguing than the next. According to Michael Lombardi, who worked alongside his father and lives in the property's carriage house, the 1870s furnishings are the best display in the country of the American neo-Roman style.

There's also painted and stenciled ceilings, trim with gold, silver and bronze leaf, and eight-sided motifs in the plasterwork, woodwork and etched glass.

Among its most interesting features is the third floor Egyptian Revival Music Room with pharaoh-embroidered chairs and a spinet piano decorated with hieroglyphs. There's also a fourth-floor ballroom at the top of the dome that's the full width of the house with no interior walls and eight porthole-like windows with views of the Hudson.

The eight-bedroom, four-bathroom home is also particularly striking during the holidays when it's decorated for Halloween and Christmas.

Where: 45 West Clinton Ave., Irvington, N.Y.

More information: Contact 914-817-5763 or visit the website at armourstiner.com.

Good to know: One-hour $29 tours include "The Classic Tour" and "Decorative Arts." Tours are offered Thursday to Monday from April through December.

Jeanne Muchnick covers food and dining. Click here for her most recent articles and follow her latest dining adventures on Instagram @jeannemuchnick or via the lohudfood newsletter. 

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Unique & historic: Explore the Octagon House in Hudson Valley, NY