Many believe based on similarities in structure and style that the unknown architect and builder was the same person who designed and built the Moses Burnett House, completed in early 1842, later to become the Syracuse Century Club building.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 due to its significance in the area of architecture and its relationship, through Hamilton White, to the commerce and politics of Syracuse.

The house is the last of a number of National Register of Historic Places-listed residential structures, in original construction and exterior, remaining in the immediate vicinity of downtown, along the city's Fayette (later, Fireman's) Park.

Hamilton White became a lawyer, farmer, investor and businessman, and moved to Syracuse after a legal apprenticeship in Buffalo, with his wife Sarah Randolf Rich.

He was a leading philanthropist, he, his family and descendants supporting many community, religious and civic organizations: including founding or co-founding Syracuse University's Crouse College, Cornell University; St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral and its two predecessor churches, the first AEM Zion church in Syracuse, donated funds to complete Grace Episcopal Church in Cortland NY and funded one of the nine back chapels in St John the Devine Cathedral in New York City; also funded the Orphan's Home, now Elmcrest Children's Home, and the Syracuse Home Association, originally a multi-faith consortium to provide community and social services, especially for the poor, now a provider of long-term healthcare and elder-care services.

The family supported the abolishment of slavery, quietly funding black churches and the underground railroad and recruited national speakers including Frederick Douglas to visit Syracuse during the 1850s.

The local United Way leadership campaign, the Hamilton White Society, is named for the family's philanthropy and community development support.

Later, as a student at Cornell University, he stabled a horse outside his dorm room, so he could visit fires and watch the volunteer firemen in Ithaca, NY.

That he recognized this imperative and used his firehouse as a training center for fire fighting technique and sciences resulted in his being characterized as the first "gentleman fireman" and the "world's first professional firefighter".

Governor White and his son Andrew both served as Managing Directors and interim publishers of the Syracuse Post-Standard, Herald, and Sunday edition newspapers prior to their sale to Newhouse Publications.

Additionally, Mrs. White built and owned several residences herself, including two on Brattle Road (where she lived as a widow), several in the University neighborhood, others across Syracuse she rented.