A National Historic Landmark, it is significant as an extremely rare and well-preserved example of an 18th-century summer house, and also includes some of the earliest American sculpture in the carved wooden figures mounted on its roof.

Samuel McIntire designed this ornate Federal style garden house for Elias Hasket Derby's farm in Salem, Massachusetts.

The structure is 20 feet square, 2½ stories high, decorated with pilasters, swags, and Grecian urns, and topped with rustic wood statues of a Reaper and Shepherdess (milkmaid).

A young lady's diary from 1802 records her contemporary impressions: The air from the windows is always pure and cool and the eye wanders with delight over the beautiful landscape below…The room is ornamented with some Chinese figures and seems calculated for serenity and peace.

[citation needed]The summer house was moved to its present location in 1901, about 4 miles from its original site, where it now opens onto a walled rose garden designed by Herbert Browne.