The house was built in 1903 at a cost of 8 775 pounds to the design of Leck and Emley. The stables, coach house, gate posts and servants quarters were erected in 1904. It is representative of the eclecticism of the Victorian Edwardian architecture. The building was erected by the township owner, Johannesburg Consolidated Investments for its Mining engineer John Henry Johns. It remained the property of JCI until 1934.