Built in 1832, it is one of Maine's important early examples of high style Greek Revival architecture.

The house is two stories tall, with brick walls set on a raised granite foundation, and capped by a wood-frame gabled roof.

The side elevations each have a recessed porch supported by three Ionic columns, with colored tile floors laid in geometric patterns.

[2] The house was owned in the 1860s by Portland mayor Augustus Stevens, and survived the city's devastating 1866 fire.

In 1914, the building was acquired by the Portland Society of Art, and converted for use as an educational facility with design assistance by John Calvin Stevens.