The large, Prairie style mansion was designed by architect George Washington Maher and completed in 1897.

Exactly 24 years later, in 1996, it was declared a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior.

In 1910 the home's most recent private owner, Herbert S. Mills, bought the house and lived there until his death in 1929.

The house is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places; it was added on June 19, 1972.

[9] The Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest was for many years located on the second floor of the Pleasant Home,[10] but the society moved to the Landmark Firehouse at Lake and Lombard Streets in Oak Park in 2017.