The house was built by Emma Tufts. She came to Sierra Madre to hike in the local mountains. She was part of the same Tufts family that founded the east coast Tufts University, which as of today is still an important seat of higher education. Emma fell in love with the town and bought two lots, upon one of which she built a two story Victorian home. The home was built in 1884 in the Queen Anne Style, from redwood that was shipped to Sierra Madre from Northern California.
Today the home has two upstairs apartments accessed by the original wooden staircase. The seven downstairs rooms totaling blank sq ft are all painted in a late Victorian style with four decorative ceilings and blank number of stained glass windows. The furnishings date from 1790 to 1890. The lot is 200 ft deep with gardens under a blank foot long archway and two additional structures.