One of the earliest buildings constructed in Bay City, the Rugeley House is a two-story, U-plan, board-and-batten house that has served as both a hospital and a boardinghouse. The perpendicular wing at the corner of Avenue F and 4th Street is a later addition to the original L-plan house, as its clapboard surfacing implies. The Rugeley House conveys the provisional feel documented in archival photographs of Bay City at its origin.