Established in 1923, it was one of the only places in the community offering summer accommodations to African-Americans during the period of Jim Crow segregation.

The interior of the house shows regular adaptation to changing environment: its kitchen is from the 1970s, while its bathrooms retain fixtures and original plaster walls from the 1920s.

The interior underwent some alteration in the 1960s, when the business began to decline due to antidiscrimination laws, and one of the Cummings children moved into part of the building on a year-round basis.

Performers who stayed there included Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, and Harry Carney, who became a regular visitor.

Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen stayed at the house and later dedicated a children's story to the cat of daughter Ann Cummings.