The building is finished in wooden clapboards, and has a gable roof whose eaves are studded with Italianate brackets.

Most of the south facade is covered by a modern extended vestibule with a hip roof, and a projecting gable-roofed portico supported by round columns near the western end.

[2] The building was originally located at the intersection of Summer Avenue and Walnut Street in Reading,[3] and housed two class-rooms when it was built in 1854.

[4] In 1883 the building was moved to its current location on Hopkins Street and renamed to the Chestnut Hill School.

In 1962 it was sold to the Quannapowitt Players, a local theatrical organization,[2] which has further modified the entry and adapted the interior as a 150-seat theater.