Built in 1870, it is the first residential design of the renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson.

It has a mansard roof, and a projecting two-story entrance section at the center of the main facade.

The entry is flanked by sidelight windows and sheltered by a semicircular wrought iron hood.

Published works include A History of the First Regiment of Massachusetts Cavalry Volunteers (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1891).

In 1868, Crowninshield commissioned his friend Richardson to design and build the house on Marlborough Street in the newly land-filled Back Bay area of Boston.