It is a five-story masonry structure, with a flat roof and party walls shared with its neighbors.

On the ground level, the central four bays have rounded arches leading to the main entrance to the hotel area.

The second through fourth floors have twelve bays of windows, set in rectangular openings with stone sills and lintels.

[2] The oldest portions of this large brick building were built in 1851, on the site of the Eagle Coffee House, which had burned down the year before.

[3] A place where the politically powerful in the state gathered, it is portrayed in the best-selling novel of 1906, Coniston, as the "Pelican Hotel".