The main house, now known as the Lyman Building, built c. 1880 around an 1804 farmhouse, is Westport's best example of Stick style architecture.

It has a busy roofline that has projecting gable sections and dormers that have decorative shingling and overlaid Stick woodwork.

[2] The oldest portion of the house, its western end, was built in 1804 by Ebenezer Jesup for his daughter Abigail.

The property was acquired in 1879 by Julia Godillot, daughter of a local merchant and wife of a French importer.

The Godillot's expanded the estate, landscaping its grounds and constructing several outbuildings, of which the cottage and carriage house survive.