[3] It is located at the corner of Broadway and Stone Street, in the downtown section of the city in the Newport Historic District.

Today the house is a five-bay wooden clapboard structure with a high peaked roof that slopes down in the rear and plaster cornice.

It is painted a historic shade of dark red, except for a white door and entryway with pilasters and a small pediment.

Merchant Stephen Mumford built the house in the late 17th century as a simple two-story structure with one room on either side of a central chimney.

The house was "primarily" a residence until 1927, when the Newport Historical Society purchased[4] and renovated it with the help of colonial architectural historian Norman Isham.

During that time, the NHS had also agreed to work with the Newport Garden Club to restore the original grounds and plantings.

[6] In August 2024, the Newport Historical Society announced that it planned to raise $4.5 million to establish the house as a center for Black history, with permanent and rotating exhibits.