While there may be reused fragments of older European houses present in several examples throughout the state, the Senti dwelling can probably lay claim to being the oldest complete house in Iowa. The house was built c. 1755 in the small Connecticut town of Portland. It was purchased by the Senti family, shipped to Iowa, and then reconstructed. 44 This Colonial dwelling is a characteristic example of a mid-eighteenth-century New England house. It is two stories high, with a steeply pitched gable roof, and has a slight suggestion of a second-story overhang at the front of the house and also around on the sides. The wide entrance door has a simple, wide entablature/cornice, below which is a-narrow transom window. A good-sized chimney projects from the center of the roof ridge. The exterior is sheathed in clapboard which has been left in a natural weathered condition. The owners have added a new one-and-a-half-story wing with a gambrel roof, and a garage to the rear, both of which have the feeling of being original to the house. The setting for the house within a grove of trees in the open farmland enhances the rustic quality of the building.