It was designed by the architect Hardie Phillip, built in 1929–32, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as a fine example of the upper-class, Hawaiian-style, great mansion of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

A porte cochere topped by an open lanai leads to a formal entry hall with staircase, which provides access to both floors of two wings running in opposite directions.

There are also three guest cottages, a gatehouse, and a four-car garage with servants' quarters above, and a swimming pool with dressing rooms at the rear of the property.

[2] Her husband Lester Marks was a land commissioner for the Territory who resigned in 1949 when Governor Ingram M. Stainback decided to build a new Pali Highway up Nuʻuanu Valley, right through the middle of their estate.

The winning bid of $2.5 million came from Unity House Incorporated, a labor union nonprofit organization, which planned to use it for office space and a retiree activity center.