The large, symmetrical, brick Italian Villa befitted “one of the most eminent physicians and surgeons in Southern Michigan [with] an extensive and lucrative practice,” as noted by Talcott E. Wing in his History of Monroe County (1890). It was built for Dr. Alfred Isaac Sawyer (b. 1828) and his wife, Sarah. Sawyer, who secured the establishment of the homeopathy department at the University of Michigan, served as mayor of Monroe in 1869–1870 and in 1878. Bracketed eaves, corbeled chimneys, an unusual round-arched central wall dormer, corner quoins, and cresting enliven the two-and-a-half-story house. The house is open to the public.