This building is a rare Western example of an Andrew Jackson Downing "suburban cottage in the Italian style."

Also of historical interest is an 1873 addition which uses a gravel wall construction technique made popular by the phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler. (Fowler inspired a national craze for octagon houses, two of which survive in San Francisco: the Feusier Octagon House on Russian Hill and the McElroy Octagon House in Cow Hollow.)

The original first floor was constructed of thick stone and mud mortar. In 1865, the stones were coated with cement and scribed to give the appearance of some, regular stone. The second story is brick, coated with scribed stucco.