This window style is repeated on the second and third level outer bays, with progressively simpler decorative stone and brickwork surrounds.

The main block of the house is topped by a hip roof, to which a wide shed-roof dormer was added in the 20th century.

Thomas Brackett Reed's importance in U.S. political history lies in fundamental changes he made to the operation of the United States House of Representatives during his tenure as its Speaker (1889–1891 and 1895–1899).

Prior to his accession to that office, the body was run by procedures mainly set down in the early 19th century by Thomas Jefferson.

In 1890 Reed decisively broke this practice by directing the clerk to count members who were visibly present in the chamber.