Benjamin and Hannah Ross and their twelve children ran a livestock farm on their 290 acres, and had this house built as the centerpiece. The windows on the south-facing facade are organized in groups of three and echo the central entrance with its sidelights. A filigreed iron balcony highlights the second-story doorway with datestone and shelters the principal entrance below. Stone window lintels on the facade have decorative carvings at their corners. Returning eaves are typical of the style, as are paired interior end chimneys. The interior has a full front and back stair in the central hall and four rooms per floor. There is a stone fireplace in the basement, as well as water supplied by a spring. A frame two-story house with its own large, stone fireplace may predate the brick house, and is attached to its east side by a modern breezeway.
Another five-bay, red brick house at 105 PA 221 and the brick Bethlehem Baptist Church (685 Washington Road), with its crenellated tower, illustrate that Ruff Creek aspired to be more than merely the crossroads of U.S. 19 and PA 221.