James M. Brown built this raised cottage two blocks south of “Ashton Villa” ( GV16) for his daughter Matilda and her husband, Thomas H. Sweeney. The house underwent substantial remodeling in 1890 and exhibits architectural features characteristic of Alfred Muller, although there is no documentary evidence connecting him to its redesign. The mariner's wheel porch railings and the projecting V-bay dormers, framed by serpentine volutes, decoratively accelerate what originally must have been a plain, clapboard cottage. From across 24th Street, one can glimpse the multicolored, slate-roofed polygonal roof cap that rises midway above one side of the house. It gives a sense of how riotous the roofs of the Sweeney House were when entirely surfaced in gray, red, and white slate.