Built in 1891 for the president of the Amoskeag Paper Company, it is a fine local example of high-style Queen Anne architecture.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994,[1] and was home to the local chapter of the American Red Cross for approximately 71 years from the start of WWII.

The entry is sheltered by a single-story porch supported by clustered Tuscan columns (replacements c. 1970 for originals styled like those on the building's porte-cochere).

[2] The house was built in 1891 for Frank Carpenter, then the president of the Amoskeag Paper Company, and a major city benefactor.

This lease was made effectively permanent after the war, and the property was formally transferred to the Red Cross in 1993 by Carpenter's heirs, subject to preservation easements.