The rising American business class enthusiastically adopted the domestic architecture of the European aristocracy. While Lewisburg industrialist Eli Slifer was building his “Tuscan villa” on the Susquehanna River, wealthy entrepreneur William Young engaged Palmer to design this “Florentine villa” on Mifflinburg's main street. Thomas T. Baker was the builder. The Lewisburg Chronicle wryly commented that the three-story brick residence with its central square tower, two-story bay windows, twin porches, and assortment of window shapes was “a little superior in style and conveniences to any building in town.”