It consists of 50 residential rowhouses built between 1890 and 1902, and one apartment building constructed in 1909, as the heirs of Eliza Jumel sold off the land of the former Roger Morris estate.

[2] The buildings are primarily wood or brick rowhouses in the Queen Anne, Romanesque and Neo-Renaissance styles.

[4] The district was designated a New York City Landmark in 1970, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

[5] The buildings included in the district are:[6] Sylvan Terrace, located where West 161st Street would normally be, was originally the carriage drive of the Morris estate.

Initially rented out to laborers and working class civil servants, the houses were restored in 1979–81.