In contrast to earlier central-chimney type, this shows the more modern end-chimney placement (with brick end walls), providing for a hall across the center of the house. The fanlighted, pedimented entrance also reflects progressive trends of the 1770s. So does the sophisticated molding under the eaves with its fretted half-round, as compared to the plain jutted overhang of the nearby contemporaneous Hyde-Bridgham House. On the other hand, the narrowing of the clapboarding toward the ground here, and the cruder treatment of the splayed window heads vis-à-vis its near neighbor indicates that up-to-dateness and finesse in design often progress in a piecemeal way in such traditional formats as eighteenth-century house fronts. Phanuel Bishop was long a member of the General Court of Massachusetts (at a time when this site was part of Rehoboth in Massachusetts), before serving eight years as a Massachusetts representative in the United States Congress.