Berthold was a German Jewish merchant who was born in Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) and immigrated to Albuquerque around 1880.

He ran a successful dry goods business and made a few forays into local politics before being appointed as the city's postmaster in 1921.

The design is relatively simple and lacks the heavy ornamentation of some of Trost's other Prairie houses, including his own residence in El Paso.

The Spitz House has stuccoed walls with dark wooden trim around the casement windows and a projecting sill course on the second floor.

The front elevation is symmetrical, with a hipped entrance porch, while the rear has an asymmetrical two-story projection and less regular window patterns.