Dream House | Octagon style seafront house making waves

Steve Glass, an American, sold plumbing materials for a living, but he also had another vocation, which was to be an underwater treasure hunter. He was obsessed with solving the mystery of finding hidden fortunes long lost at sea!

Glass erected this seafront house in 1986, in the sleepy fishing village of Little Bay, Westmoreland. Some four miles due south west, offshore the property, he began the indefatigable search and recovery of a sunken shipwreck, supposedly laden with treasure, that had ran aground on the reef ages ago.

But misfortune would strike while on a trip to Cuba to acquire a diving bell (a submersible apparatus) to enable his exploratory mission in Jamaica. A calamitous motorcycle occurrence claimed his life.

In 1998, this out-of-the-way house, which sporadically observes vehicles and passersby, changed ownership to Information Technology (IT) Specialist Sean Douglas, from British Columbia, Canada. Seven years ago, he met his Canadian wife Sharlene online, also in IT, and together, their forever affair with the island has never waned.

The original house on the one-acre site was a single storey before being supplemented with a top floor, courtesy of its current owners. It is a highly unusual octagonal-style building, having a geometric configuration of eight even exterior walls. Popularised around the mid-century in America by its thrice-married author, Orson Squire Fowler, a sexual scientist and phrenologist, he professed the shape offered more interior space, a healthier atmosphere, more light, ventilation and cost-effectiveness. Today, only a few survive.

The angular-sided living quarters, seek your approval on entry with its three smallish bedrooms, three bathrooms, living and dining space, opening to the guango wood cabinet and counter kitchen. Balconies and porches are configured to front the aqua blue sea in all its omnipotence.

The interior dividing walls upstairs are built from guango wood, with porcelain tile floors in blue, green and white travelling throughout. The casual furnishings are of local, handcrafted cedar and guango wood.

The elevated rocky shoreline exposes a rare geological feature- a blue hole, occasionally spurting water up through it from an underwater cave. A ladder descends into the sea, for swimming an frolicking.

An architectural treasure unearthed to enlighten and entertain you with its exclusive narrative!

Barry Rattray is a dream house designer and builder. Email feedback to barryrattray1@hotmail.com and lifestyle@gleanerjm.com