The residence of Royal Barry Wills is a classic New England Cape Cod, the type of house for which the architect was most famous. The one-and-a-half-story dwelling sits askew on a residential street behind a white picket fence and a colonial lamppost, the only one of its kind in the vicinity. The architect for his growing family added a two-story addition on the rear. Born in Melrose on August 21, 1895, Wills graduated from the School of Architecture at MIT in 1918 and established his own practice in 1925. Through books and published designs he acquired a national reputation for his small house designs, mostly representing architecture of the colonial period. His publications included Houses for Good Living (1940), Houses for Homemakers (1945), and Living on the Level, the One Story Houses (1955).