In partnership with William Robert Ware, Henry Van Brunt designed some of the most seminal buildings in Boston and Cambridge during the 1860s and 1870s. For his own house, Van Brunt explored the picturesque massing and textural richness derived from the Queen Anne movement in Britain, seen in the varied gables and dormers and patterned shingle walls. A translator of the writings of French rationalist architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Van Brunt incorporated an attention to structure in the turned posts of the porch and the paired windows wrapping the second-floor corners. Van Brunt did not enjoy the house for long. After ending his partnership with Ware in 1881, he formed Van Brunt and Howe, which he relocated to Kansas City in 1886.