Built in 1859, it occupies a central position in the city's West Market Square at the junction of Main, Broad, and Hammond Streets.

It was the state's first commercial Second Empire building, and notably survived both Bangor's devastating 1911 fire, and its major urban renewal programs of the late 1960s.

[1] The Wheelwright Block stands at the northern end of West Market Square, at the southeast corner of the junction of Main Street (United States Route 202) and Hammond Street (United States Route 2).

It is four-story brick building, which is roughly L-shaped due to the angled corner lot, with a flared metal mansard roof with no dormers except for a single one facing the square.

[2] The building was designed by Benjamin S. Deane, one of a handful of architects working in Maine in the first half of the 19th century, and was completed in 1859.