The piano box house is a vernacular architectural style found in houses built in Middle and West Tennessee, from the mid-19th century into the early part of the 20th century.

[2] Maxwelton was built around 1860 from Tennessee native Poplar and Cypress woods.

It features a long recessed central porch between two flanking parlors.

It is named after a famed estate Maxwelton House home of Annie Laurie in Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

Judge John Louis Taylor Sneed purchased the home in 1874.