Outside, they replaced the front verandah balusters and rear verandah columns with parts meant to be as close to the original as possible. In the early 21st century the main stair's balusters and newel posts were replaced. The house is located on a lot on the east side of Pinesbridge between Apple Farm and Hoags Cross roads, three-quarters of a mile () west of its partial interchange with the Taconic State Parkway. The neighboring properties on the same side of the street are houses of various eras on similarly large lots, many now heavily wooded and planted with mature trees. It sits atop one of the area's low hills, in elevation. The house stands in a generally cleared lot, and is approached by a roughly circular driveway which leads up from the road. In a wooded portion at the rear of the lot are remnants of old stone walls and foundations. The architect and builder of the house are unknown; it is probable that they were local and, if anything, used pattern books of the era. While the Second Empire style of the house was a common one in the 1870s, it was mostly used in urban settings. The Youngs supplemented the proceeds of their farming through real estate transactions, including some in nearby Ossining, so they would have been familiar with it. In choosing the Second Empire style as their preferred mode for a country house, they may have been very overtly showing off their prosperity. The house, as originally built, has a number of features further suggesting this, such as the carefully and elaborately finished interior, particularly the first floor. Its cupola, which the roof stairs were originally meant to serve, would have allowed sweeping views over the property, much less forested at the time, to the Hudson River and Palisades beyond. It is unclear why so many bedrooms were built, as it does not appear from census records or any other source that people other than the Youngs or their only child, John, ever lived there for any length of time. It is probable that the house was built by expanding and modifying an earlier one on the same site, probably an 18th-century vernacular farmhouse of the type still common in the area at the time. Many of the "oddities" of the current structure suggest this:  An entry in the "Biographical History of Westchester County", written around 30 years later, supports this. It refers to Young as "constantly having made improvements and added to the beauty and value of his country home."