Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainBuilt in 1817 without a single right angle or parallel wall, this Petersburg oddity was designed at the direction of an Irish bachelor who believed corners harbored evil spirits.
244 N Market St, Petersburg, VA 23803
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Private residence; exterior viewable from public sidewalk at no charge. Ghost tour fees vary by operator.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Urban sidewalk in Old Towne Petersburg historic district
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1817 · Spirit-Protection Architecture · Irish Immigrant History in Petersburg · Old Towne Petersburg Historic District
Charles O'Hara, an Irish immigrant who settled in Petersburg in the early 19th century, commissioned his home at 244 N Market St with an unusual structural directive: no right angles, no parallel walls. The resulting trapezoid-shaped building, completed in 1817, is a singular example of a structure deliberately designed around a cross-cultural spiritual belief.
According to Roadside America and the Clio historical record, O'Hara's West Indian servant informed him that evil spirits settled in corners. To deny them any foothold, O'Hara specified that every interior angle be oblique and no two walls run parallel. The result is a house that disorients the eye from every room and forces unconventional furniture arrangements throughout.
O'Hara, who never married, also kept pet rats in the house as companions — a habit unusual enough to generate the nickname 'Rat Castle' among Petersburg residents. The house remained in private hands through the 19th and 20th centuries and is still privately owned today.
The Trapezium House stands in the Old Towne Petersburg National Historic District and is recognized as one of the most architecturally distinctive private residences in Virginia. Ghost tour operators in Petersburg have included it as a regular stop for at least a decade, not for documented paranormal activity so much as for the house's explicit origin in a theory of spiritual architecture.
Sources
The paranormal dimension of the Trapezium House is embedded in its architecture rather than in visitor reports. O'Hara's servant — whose identity is not recorded beyond the role described in period Petersburg accounts — advised that spirits occupy right-angle corners and that a cornerless house would prevent their entry. O'Hara built accordingly.
Ghost tour stops at the Trapezium House typically present the building's origin story as its primary dark feature: the house was designed from the ground up as a spiritual defense system. Visitor reports of unusual sensations inside are not independently documented; access is limited because the building remains a private residence.
The site also appears in tours focused on Petersburg's eccentric history rather than its haunted history. The architectural curiosity and the cultural transmission of the spirit-corner belief — from a West Indian tradition through an Irish immigrant's construction commission — make it a documentable cross-cultural artifact of early 19th-century Petersburg.
Observe the 1817 Trapezium House from the public sidewalk. The building's lack of right angles and parallel walls is visible from the street. It is privately owned; do not enter without invitation. The house is a regular stop on Petersburg ghost tour routes.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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