The Shute Octagon House is an historic octagon house

Octagon house

Octagon houses were a unique house style briefly popular in the 1850s in the United States and Canada. They are characterised by an octagonal plan, and often feature a flat roof and a veranda all round...

 located on McGuire School Road in Duanesburg

Duanesburg, New York

Duanesburg is a town in Schenectady County, New York, USA. The population was 5,808 at the 2000 census. Duanesburg is named for James Duane, who held most of it as an original land grant. The town is in the western part of the county.-History:...

, Schenectady County, New York

Schenectady County, New York

Schenectady County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 154,727. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county seat is Schenectady. The name is from a Mohawk Indian word meaning "on the other side of the...

. It was built about 1855 by noted master carpenter Alexander Delos "Boss" Jones

Alexander Delos "Boss" Jones

Alexander Delos "Boss" Jones , also known as A.D. Jones or Boss Jones, was an American master carpenter and architect who designed and built a number of notable Greek Revival style farmhouses in Schenectady County, New York. He also built two notable Octagon houses. His work was based in...

. It is a 2-story, clapboard-sided farmhouse with a -story wing in the Greek Revival

Greek Revival architecture

The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...

 style. It features innovative stacked plank construction, a low-pitched polygonal roof surmounted by a widow's walk

Widow's walk

A widow's walk also known as a "widow's watch" is a railed rooftop platform often with a small enclosed cupola frequently found on 19th century North American houses. A popular romantic myth holds that the platform was used to observe vessels at sea...

, a full entabulature circling the structure. A 1-story porch with porte cochere was added about 1906. Also on the property are four contributing barns, a shed, and a smokehouse

Smokehouse

A smokehouse is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.-History:...

.

The property was covered in a 1984 study of Duanesburg historical resources.
The property was also-covered in a study of Boss Jones TR

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1984.