The house is a typical late colonial/early Federalist center chimney layout, and retains many of its original features, despite a number of alterations.

He sold the house and 150 acres (61 ha) to the Northampton Association for Education and Industry (NAEI), who operated the property as an experiment in communal living until 1845.

[1] The NAEI was part of a movement in the 1840s in which a number of communal living societies were established (one of the more well-known was Brook Farm outside Boston).

One of the leaders of the NAEI was George Benson, brother-in-law to abolitionist firebrand William Lloyd Garrison.

The organization operated the silk works begun by Whitmarsh, and provided a school, a store, and housing for the community members.