It encompasses eight residential properties, all but one of which were developed in the 1860s and 1870s, after the arrival of the railroad in town.

These properties were built primarily for Boston businessmen, and mark the start of Wakefield's transition to a suburb.

All are 2+1⁄2 stories in height, and of wood-frame construction, with clapboards and/or shingles on their exteriors, and most have porches.

The house at 20 Yale Avenue, for instance, follows a somewhat typical Italianate L-shaped plan, but its porch is more elaborately decorated with what might be considered Queen Anne features.

The house at 23 Yale Avenue, built c. 1863, marks a shift from the Italianate to the Second Empire with the addition of a mansard-style roof with fish scale shingles.