 In 1950 architect Rexford Newcomb wrote, "...probably the best-planned octagon house in the country is the John Richards House at Watertown, Wisconsin..."

The house was designed and built by John Richards, a pioneer Watertown lawyer and mill owner, with construction completed in 1854.It was still in the Richards family until the death of his grandson, William Thomas, in 1935.The family offered to sell the house to the city (reputedly for $1) but it was sold to the Watertown Historical Society (founded 1933), and opened to the public in 1938.