The property was bought by John Taylor who allowed the Mackenzie family to remain in the house without paying rent.

Four years later Isabel Mackenzie repurchased the home with expenses paid by the Ontario Legislature for William's pilgrimage to London in the 1830s.

The building was designed in the Georgian architecture style, and is presently operated as a municipally run historic house museum about 1860s Urban Victorian life.

On the grounds are the side panels of the Memorial Arch that once stood at the foot of the Honeymoon Bridge in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The museum also depicts life in Toronto of the 1860s to the 1890s, including programs focused on Black Canadians and Mary Ann Shadd.