Originally the Tank Home for Missionary Children, the house underwent a series of renovations before becoming the co-op it is today.

Tank, who contributed a quarter of the cost of its construction as a gift from the estate of her late husband Nils Otto Tank, who was a wealthy son of a Norwegian gentryman and worked as a missionary in Dutch Guiana in the 1840s; he also founded a Moravian religious commune in northern Wisconsin.

On the front and part of the west side of the house is a recessed porch with spindle railing and square columns.

The top half-story of the house has many hipped dormers, some of which have small porches with roofs supported by round columns.

A sandstone path leads from the sidewalk to the front porch and to a large bike-rack on the west side of the house.