John Buxton, born in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1779, came to Newbury before 1804. He established himself as a harness maker and merchant and married Prudence Bayley, daughter of Colonel John Bayley (a son of Jacob Bayley). In 1822 he built a Federal addition onto a small Cape facing the river road (U.S. 5). The five-bay, gable-front form, wide window fan, and main doorway of the addition are clearly influenced by contemporaries in neighboring Bradford, but its finish carpentry has a more vernacular flavor. This is evident in the way alternating gouged florettes and incised reeding replaced the carved patera one would expect to find in the arch above the entrance. The same finish carpenter built at least three identically detailed doorways in Haverhill, New Hampshire, across the Connecticut River. A Greek Revival entrance was later added to the side of the house, and at the rear a carriage barn with corner pilasters and arched bays was added to the ell that had evolved from the original Cape.