From 1827 to 1829, portrait painter Chester Harding lived in this diminutive Federal house. Frequent alterations began when a Greek Revival entrance portico and second-story bay window were added in the early nineteenth century. In 1916 the American Unitarian Association added the three Colonial Revival–style windows at the ground-floor level. In 1962 the Boston Bar Association attempted to restore much of the character of the Federal house by removing an oriel window and a third-floor balcony added in 1885. Only the second-story bay window supported on cast-iron columns remains from the brief Victorian interlude in the building's history.