In 1870 Washington Avenue was opened for residential development. Between Elm Street and Washington Place was the sub-division of J.H. Searle and J.M. Minor, while the western end of the street was part of J.C. Ward's "Paradise Lot" development. Mr. Ward owned most of the land atop the bluffs on the easterly side of the Mill River west of Elm Street and opened this land up for development in the decade after the Civil War. The 1873 atlas show three housed, including his own, on Paradise Road and seven houses on the western part of his development, which consisted of the eastern end of Paper Mill Road (now Federal Street), the western end of Vernon Street and James and Ward Avenues. This house appears on that atlas and was owned and occupied by Benjamin Peck, "agent for Babcock's fire extinguisher". The house is one-and-a-half stories high with ridge roof and two-story gabled pavilion in the center of the three-bay facade. This pavilion contains the house's main entrance, which is covered by a one-story porch with hipped roof, square posts with brackets and balustrade.

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