55 Monroe Street is a two-story, three by three bay, hipped-roof, brick structure on the south side of Monroe Street between North Champlain and Johnson Streets. Few substantial changes have been made to the original structure.

It was constructed between 1853 and 1869 for Harvey Burnett, a glazier. He also owned a home on Pearl Street that was built before 1853.¹ Burnett resided in the Pearl Street house in 1857 and did not live in the Monroe Street house in 1869, so he may have managed 55 Monroe Street as rental property.² In 1885, the house was in the hands of Michael C. Berry, who built another house next door in 1903 and rented this building thereafter.³ By 1940, Anna L. McGovern, a nurse, lived in the house,⁴ and the McGovern family owned the property until 1964. Buelah A. Lavalley owned 55 Monroe Street until 1987, and it has been used for rental income since.⁵