The house stands at the top of a rise from which Hepburn would have had a view of the city's downtown, but it is now hemmed in by trees and residential development.

The house is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, roughly L-shaped, with a cross-gable roof, clapboard siding, and a brick foundation.

Extending north along the eastern facade (the main facade of the building) is a flat-roof veranda, and there is a mansard-roofed tower located at the crook of the L.[3] The house was from 1867 until his death in 1916 the primary residence of William P. Hepburn, and the best-preserved of two residences associated with his political life (the other is a townhouse in Washington, DC).

Hepburn, trained as a lawyer and a veteran of the American Civil War, served as member of the United States House of Representatives 1880–1886 and 1892–1908.

He also played an important role in authorizing construction of the Panama Canal, and sought to curb the power of the Speaker of the House Joseph G.