Built in 1756 for Nathaniel Shaw Sr., it is a well-preserved example of a wealthy merchant's house, made further notable as the location of the state's naval offices during the American Revolutionary War.

[2] The headquarters and museum of the New London County Historical Society have been located in the Shaw Mansion since 1907.

It is a large three-story granite structure, whose main block is six bays wide, with a single-story porch extending across its width.

[2][4] However it happened, the house survived the fires, suffering only the loss of a wood-frame annex, which was afterwards rebuilt in granite in 1840.

[4] Nathaniel Jr. died in a hunting accident in 1792, and the house passed to the Perkins family through the marriage of Shaw's niece.