In 1860, Edmund Schermerhorn hired the famous Newport, R.I. architect George C. Mason to build the mansion in the Italianate style. Mrs. Emily Morris-Gallatin bought it in 1911, and the family kept it until they donated it to the Preservation Society of Newport County in 1986 together with all the interior furnishings and an endowment for its maintenance from Mrs. Alletta Morris McBean.