[5] Branch House accurately reflects a particular period of American history, in the early decades of the twentieth century, when English architectural styles were fashionable among wealthy industrialists and financiers.

Notably, the site is on axis with the Broad Street Station to the north, possibly related to John Kerr Branch's professional associations with the railroad.

[4] According to the 1984 application to the National Register of Historic Places, Pope himself had limited involvement in the project and never visited the building.

[11] The roof is double-pitched with parapets and castellation (or crenelations), creating numerous complexities and hidden flat areas.

The 1984 application to the National Register of Historic Places noted that the design "incorporated salient features from several 16th-century English country houses to form a convincingly correct assemblage of design elements," adding that "to maintain the illusion of age, the architect had the building materials distressed and aged to add patina to the image of power and pedigree"[4] and furthermore that "barons of American industry, finance, and culture, such as Branch, appropriated the traditions of English domestic architecture as a way of asserting a noble lineage for their class.

Branch House, by contrast, includes no courtyard, sits adjacent to a street corner on an urban parcel and is largely compact and more symmetrical.

[5] Exterior features of Branch House include its perimeter wall of brick construction, wall materials of weathered brick combined with distressed and patinized briarcliff sandstone,[4] sculpted stone motifs,[8] sandstone door and window surrounds, chimney pots, brickwork with diamond diapering, leaded glass,[11] carved-stone heraldry, oriel windows with cul-de-lampe (corbeling resembling the conical bottom of ancient lamps), bargeboards resembling those of Compton Wynyates, inscriptions at the window heads referring to the Branch family's arrival in Virginia during the 17th century, a tower reminiscent of that at Hampton Court Palace, and three characteristically Tudor twisted brick chimneys that resemble those found in Tudor pattern books of the period.

[4][8] Until Beulah Gould Branch's death, almost every wall surface in the home's primary rooms was covered with the couple's collection of tapestries and textiles.

"[16] John Kerr Branch grew up in Richmond and attended the McGuire School, subsequently studying in Paris and Germany (1882–1884).

[13] He and his wife Beulah later became widely known as collectors of Italian Renaissance paintings, furniture, tapestries, woodwork and armour.

[11] The elder Branch gifted an entire city block to his son and daughter on condition that they build their homes there.

[9][4] John Kerr built on one half of the block, and construction was complete in 1919[11] at a cost of $160,000,[9][4] roughly the equivalent of $19 million in 2010.

[8] In exchange for tax benefits, the easement stipulated that "no major changes (could) be made to the exterior or interior, in perpetuity.

"[5] In December 1983, the Pogues successfully applied to list Branch House on the National Register of Historic Places.