the two walls at a 70 degree angle from each other. The house actually has 6 sides, but was called "The Octagon" by the Tayloes. It had closets on every floor, an innovative feature for its time. The house is well built of brick trimmed with Aquia Creek sandstone. The lot is triangular and fenced in by a high brick wall. The kitchen, stable and outhouses are built of brick and accommodated a large number of both servants and horses. The interior is elaborately finished, the doors of the first story being of mahogany. All the work in the circular vestibule coincides with the circumference of the tower, the doors, sash and glass being made on the circle. The parlor mantle is made of a fine cement composition painted white. The remains of gold leaf show in some of the relieved portions. Leading into the back hall and dining-room are two secret doors in which the wash-boards, chair-boards, etc. run across the door, being ingeniously cut some distance from the actual door, no key holes, hinges or openings showing on the blind side. The knobs and shutter-buttons are of brass and evidently of a special pattern. The Tayloes had 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood (2 died in infancy: Anne, born and died in 1800, and Lloyd, born 1815, died 1816). The children were all born between 1793 and 1815. The oldest son, John Tayloe IV, served in the US Navy during the War of 1812 aboard the . His early death in 1824 was possibly connected to wounds received during the war. His parents provided for his wife and child after his death. Edward Thornton Tayloe, George Plater Tayloe and Henry Augustine Tayloe were all born at the Octagon. The War of 1812 John Tayloe III was a Federalist, and not terribly supportive of President James Madison and the war with England that began in 1812, but he was active in the Virginia militia and commanded a regiment of DC cavalry. When the British marched into Washington in August 1814, there was a French flag flying outside the Octagon. Ann Ogle Tayloe had offered the house to the French consulate, in the hopes of sparing the house from destruction at the hands of the British, and he was occupying the house when the British arrived in the city. The house probably would have been spared even if