Built in 1840, it is a stylistically rare example of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama, with elements from the late Federal period.

The house is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a clapboarded exterior, and a truncated hip roof topped by a belvedere.

[2] Period interior features include a unique stairway which ascends in a series of double flights and bridge-like landings to an observatory on the rooftop that offered views of the plantation.

[2] In 1840, Armestead Barton, a native of Tennessee, moved to the area and purchased 40,000 acres (16,000 ha), on which he began construction of this house.

[2] In November 2008, the noted photographer Charles Moore took his final documented images on this property.