[2] The campus was designed on the Cottage Plan, with dispersed buildings in a bucolic setting, by Minnesota state architect Clarence H. Johnston Sr.[3] The site has been converted to a veteran care center called Eagle's Healing Nest.

[5] It was nominated for being the first Minnesota state facility designed to treat female juvenile delinquents, for embodying the Cottage Plan theory of institutional design, and for Johnston Sr.[3] Each of the buildings on the campus is described as either contributing or non-contributing, with the contributing buildings perceived as having historical significance.

The subject property is further described as significant as it represents the Cottage Plan of state institutional design, as well as the work of Clarence H. Johnston Sr., a prolific Saint Paul architect in the first 30 years of the 20th century.

The buildings of the Home School were constructed according to the Cottage System of Institutional Care, which was a design theory used by state hospitals and mental asylums in the late 19th century.

The system called for the institutions to be built away from the populace in a rural area to create a private, tranquil atmosphere, with farm operations often becoming an integral part of the property.