Whether the three stacked Palladian windows in the four-story mansard-roofed tower are a reference to colonial precedent is unknown, but this is probably northern Virginia's most exuberant High Victorian house. Benjamin F. Price, the local builder-architect, designed the house for Richard Lloyd, who came from Illinois, began to purchase property in 1865, and became the owner and operator of one of the area's largest farms. The midwestern heritage may have something to do with the aggressive and public character of the house, similar to that of contemporary courthouses. Certainly it lacks the common Virginian restraint. Its location along a bluff overlooking downtown Alexandria proclaimed Lloyd's arrival. Now it is in the middle of a private school campus.