Jonathan Bowers/Round House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, the Jonathan Bowers/Round House is located at 58 Wannalancit Street near the top of the street and is Lowell's most unique architectural landmark.  Designed in the Second Empire style, the round form is not only a rarity in Lowell but in the United States.  Constructed in 1872, it is one of only three round houses known to exist in Massachusetts dating from that period.

The round shape of the house is a variation of the Octagon style popularized by Orson Fowler's The Octagon House: A Home for All published in 1849.  Octagon homes were primarily built in New York, Massachusetts, and the Midwest between the 1850s and 1870s.
The granite house was built by industrialist Jonathan Bowers for his daughter's wedding reception at a cost of $30,000.  Granite from Bowers' own Tyngsboro quarry was used in its construction and interior woodwork was fabricated at his own mill.  The house is capped with a fishscale slate mansard roof and cupola.  Notable features include arched windows, pedimented dormers, round bays, and round granite chimneys.

Bowers occupied the house until 1879, after which it was owned by a dealer in plumbing and metals. From 1919 to 1924 it was owned by a French-American social club, the Club Lafayette.  Since then it has been primarily a private residence and continues in that capacity today.

The house is also located within the Wannalancit Street Historic District that was listed on the National Register in 1998 as well as the Wannalancit Street Neighborhood District created in 2005, requiring review by the Lowell Historic Board of demolition, partial demolition, and new construction projects.