Arthur Little, whose own house (WB5) is nearby at 2 Raleigh Street, designed this impressive town house with his partner Herbert Browne. The heavy Georgian balustrade above the ground-floor doorway and the belt course of running Greek-key pattern provide a clue to the classical motifs employed within. The magnificent wrought-iron fence and arched gateway herald one of the city's unique interior spaces, a great two-story Roman atrium. At the second-story front, the sitting room with original furnishings follows the French Classical Revival tenets of tastemakers Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr. in their book, The Decoration of Houses (1897). When affluent owners deserted Bay State Road, the Means House found new use as the first cooperative dormitory for women in the United States.