[1][2] The house was built in 1891 by surgeon William Perrin Nicolson as a wedding present for his bride, Carolyn Crane.

The building was designed by regionally renowned master architect Walter T. Downing in the Eclectic Colonial Revival style.

[3] The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977,[4] and is a City of Atlanta Landmark Building and Site (1989).

Downing's residential work, being one of only five of his houses in Atlanta still extant, and it is the only one reflecting the distinctive style that he developed in his designs commissioned in the 1890s.

[1] The property is documented by several interior and exterior photos in Downing's book titled Domestic Architecture.