In 1984, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture and its role in Knoxville's late-nineteenth century wholesaling industry.

The building was originally designed in an Italianate style, and contained a central pediment and balustrade, and storefronts flanked by Corinthian columns.

[1] The building's first-story Gay Street facade, which reflects the 1929 remodeling, consists of an ashlar veneer, with a recessed entrance topped by an eagle-and-garland frieze.

The building's interior, which also reflects the 1929 remodeling, includes a central hall with gray marble walls and floors, and square Corinthian columns.

[3] In 1832, Cowan formed a partnership with Dickinson, a Massachusetts-born professor who had moved to Knoxville several years earlier to teach at East Tennessee University.

[1] As the nexus of the relatively isolated farming communities of East Tennessee and the great manufacturing centers of the eastern United States, Knoxville grew into a wholesaling mecca in the years following the Civil War.

In May 2011, the company announced plans to expand the convenience store into a full-scale grocery, in partnership with Maryville-based retailer, The Market.