The house was locally notable as the home of poet Sam Walter Foss in 1877–78, when he was attending Tilton Seminary, and was known as the "House by the Side of Road" after Foss's poem of the same name,[b] since the 1890s.

It was a 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a side-gable roof, off-center brick chimney, and clapboarded exterior.

The street-facing front facade was five bays wide, with the main entrance at the center, flanked by sidelight windows.

The other windows were rectangular six-over-six sash, framed by simple corner boards.

The house was not architecturally distinguished, and was typical of late 18th-century residential construction in rural New Hampshire.