The John F. Adams House was moved back 50 feet (15 m) and turned to face Allen Avenue after it was purchased by the Beacon Oil Company in 1929.

The architect of the John F. Adams House is currently unknown, but the National Register of Historic Places's multiple property submission provides an interpretation of its design and architectural roots.

"[2] These details were introduced in the 1840s by Henry Austin, but the work also has similar aspects to the James Knapp House that were featured in Edmund V. Gillon Jr.'s Early Illustrations and Views of American Architecture.

[2][3] The multiple property submission states that the John F. Adams House is the "finest late Italianate dwelling still standing in Pawtucket.

The exotic details of its principal facade – the Moorish window hoods and Indian porch columns – are unmatched in the city and link the Adams House to a group of similar mid-nineteenth-century dwellings designed by Henry Austin and his followers in the vicinity of New Haven, Connecticut.