The structure is a two-story, gable front two bays wide, with a side entrance on the south facade.  The building has had extensive rear additions, but only one-story tall and not visible from the street.  The changes to the exterior of the structure have been limited to the enclosure of the side porch and additions.

            The historic survey of this structure stated that it was built in 1873 [1] for John Kelley, a porter at the Van Ness House.  The city directories list two John Kelleys [2] , one a carpenter and the other an employee of the Van Ness House.  For which Kelley the house was constructed, it is not clear.  The listed residences of the Kelleys' create some confusion about the date the structure was built and within which houses along North Champlain Street they lived.  It is fact that the porter at the Van Ness House lived on this block between Cedar Street and North Street [3] , but by 1881 the occupant of the house is one John Kelley a carter.  The property was listed as owned by J. Kelly in 1890 and the house was lived in by Kelleys into the early 1900s.  After this family, the house was occupied by a number of families, some laborers and later their widows [4] .