Initially constructed in 1685 and enlarged and remodeled many times thereafter, it is located at 159 Brattle Street in Cambridge.

Judge Joseph Lee bought the house in 1758, adding the enclosed entry porch and applying stucco to the west wall.

Lee was a Loyalist and hence vacated his house during the first days of the American Revolution; he returned, however, in 1777.

They enlarged the rear and installed the roof balustrade, containing balusters once part of the chancel of Saint Paul's Cathedral in Boston.

In 1916 Austin White, a relative of the Nicholses, removed the two-story rear of the house and rebuilt it to a full three stories.