Located along College Street on the city's western side, it was built in 1853 in a combination of the Queen Anne, Stick/Eastlake, and Gothic Revival architectural styles.

Its most significant resident was Frank Sewall,[2] president of what is now Urbana University during the 1870s.

A native of Maine, Sewall was a minister of the New Church who moved to Urbana upon being elected to the presidency in 1870.

[3] In 1995, the Richards-Sewall House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[1] It qualified for addition to the Register both because of its connection to Sewall and its contribution to broad patterns of American history.