Of the five known octagon houses built in San Francisco, two have survived: the Feusier House and the McElroy House. (The extant Marine Exchange Point Lobos Lookout Station was built in 1927 with an octagonal footprint.)

In 1849, the New York City phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler, published a book titled The Octagon House: A Home For All, or A New, Cheap, Convenient, and Superior Mode of Building in which he touted the many benefits of houses built with eight sides rather than the customary four. Impressed by Mr. Fowler's arguments, George Kenny built this house in 1858 and sold it to Louis Feusier in 1870. Feusier, a French immigrant, later added the third story under a Mansard roof and a small, octagonal cupola.

The Feusier House was one of a group of houses at the top of Russian Hill which survived the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

The building remains a private residence and is San Francisco Landmark 36.