A major shipbuilder, first in Medford and later in East Boston, Paul Curtis, built a temple-front Greek Revival house on the Mystic River opposite his shipyard. Facing the street and the river, a two-story Ionic portico shelters a second-story porch and a facade with flush board siding and tall windows. As was typical where the parlor with the tall windows faced the street, the main entrance is in the center of one side of the house, here entered through a small Ionic portico. A veranda on the ell also features Ionic columns. Local tradition states that this is the grandmother's house venerated in the poem “Over the River and Through the Woods” by Medford native Lydia Child.