Inspired by a Scottish turret, this 1872 granite round house in Lowell, Massachusetts, has fifteen rooms that wind around a stunning circular staircase.
Known as the Bowers Round House after its original owner, Jonathan Bowers, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. According to the owner of the house, Bowers was “a local industrialist who owned a granite quarry, a carriage factory, and an amusement park.”
The interior is spectacular, featuring an oval living room and a round dining room. Other notable features are the house’s arched windows, pedimented dormers, round bays, and round granite chimneys.
My mother’s father and siblings were born in the Round House when George Libbee lived there. If the Libbees were renting or owning, I do not know. My mother’s father’s name was Charles Forrest Libbee and his siblings were Florence Gertrude Libbee and Carroll Libbee. We always called it the Libbee Castle. I got to see a small portion of it when an artist couple lived there and a college friend was house sitting for them in the late 1970′s.
How fantastic! I’d love to see what the interior is like.