Petersburg, Virginia: Trapezium House
Charles O'Hara's house was built without parallel walls because his West Indian servant told him that such a house could not harbor evil spirts.
- Address:
- 244 N. Market St., Petersburg, VA
- Directions:
- I-95 exit 52 onto Washington St. Drive west, then turn right on Sycamore, left on Old St., then left onto Market. The Trapezium House will be on the right. House privately owned.
- Hours:
- Call the Siege Museum for scheduled openings. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
- Phone:
- 804-733-2400
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The Trapezium House has been sold and is no longer open to the public. That was all the info I could get out of the nice women at the Siege Museum down the street. You can still view the house from the outside, of course, but I would think the inside is probably a lot more interesting since, as you can see, it's not true that there are NO right angles. The walls aren't parallel, but that's about all you can tell from the outside.
[Dean Jeffrey, 10/13/2001]I remember first visiting the trapezium house on a high school fieldtrip years ago,in Petersburg. It's very old, built probably in the late 1700s. The weird thing is that the man who built it believed that evil spirits resided in right angles, therefore the house was constructed without them. Everything from the stairs, floor, fireplace and even windowpanes are slightly crooked one way or another. It kind of reminds me of the Winchester Mystery House....only much much smaller and less intricate.
[Kelly Sweeney, 09/28/1998]Nearby Offbeat Places
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Charles O'Hara had his house built in 1817 without parallel walls because his West Indian servant told him that such a house could not harbor evil spirts.