The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 19, 1972, due to its architectural significance.

[1] The 26-room Italianate mansion was designed by architect Samuel Sloan for Robert Jemison, Jr., a local planter, politician, and businessman.

Construction began in 1859, as the nearby Alabama State Hospital for the Insane, designed by Sloan, neared completion.

[5] Construction on the mansion continued into the early years of the American Civil War, being primarily completed in 1862.

Although some items were never completed as planned due to the war and the resulting Union blockade of the South, the house made use of the latest technology.