Leon E. Dessez designed the house, completed in 1893 for 20,000 dollars as the home of the Naval Observatory's superintendent. It is Queen Anne in style, with an asymmetrical plan, round turret rooms, inglenooks and wraparound verandas. It has 33 rooms in about 9,000 square feet (836 m²), on 13 acres within a 73-acre property.
The chief of naval operations used it from 1923, and Congress made it the vice president's residence in July 1974. It was formally opened in September 1975, and Walter Mondale was the first vice president to live there, in 1977. Renovations came in 1976, 1993 and 2021, the latter at 3.8 million dollars.
The article gives the original exterior as terracotta brick in one place and dark red brick in another. There are no public tours.
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