Perhaps more than any other in downtown Salem, this building best reflects the construction trends seen in Salem during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The two-story brick building, its facade clearly divided into two equal halves, was built as the store of John M. Evans. The right half of the facade retains its original Italianate parapet cornice, brackets, and other wooden detailing, including half of the triangular pediment centered on the building. The left half of the facade was redone by Roanoke architect Homer M. Miller in association with Alex B. Mahood of Bluefield, West Virginia, upon the partial acquisition of the building by a local streetcar railway company. The remodeling included the replacement of the Italianate features by such Colonial Revival touches as a classical cornice and frieze and keystones over the door and windows.