Construction was performed partially by locals and partly by master craftsmen from afar: the architect was Isaac Tuttle of neighboring Ravenna, but interior woodworking was performed by woodworkers brought from New York City.

Members of Kent's family lived at the house for slightly more than forty years before selling it to a Masonic lodge in 1923.

Due to Marvin Kent's national prominence in the Republican Party, many political leaders visited his house, including Presidents Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding; the guest room in which every president slept has been named the "President's Room" and preserved in its late nineteenth-century condition.

A brick wall is placed in front of the house, which features a wrap-around porch with a small pediment.

The house's walls rise two and a half stories, with a taller tower at the center of the facade; the eaves under the tall pointed roof are supported by a cornice composed of dentilling.