The original Pearse family farmhouse was built in 1869 on the Rouge River in present-day Scarborough as a one-story board and batten structure. However, they decided to expand and rebuild significant portions of their home in 1893, resulting in the current Gothic Revival "Ontario Farmhouse" style dichromatic brick house. As the Pearses owned and operated a sawmill that harnessed the power of the Rouge, they used lumber offcuts to reframe their new, larger house.

In the 1990s, the house was restored and transported to 1749 Meadowvale Road where it now serves as the conservation centre at Rouge National Urban Park.

The Ontario Farmhouse design was hugely popular throughout the 19th century. Ontario architecture historian Shannon Kyles describes it as "the most pervasive Ontario residential style prior to 1950." Having originated at a time when Upper Canadian property taxes corresponded to the number of stories a building had, the cottage's steeply pitched centre gable effectively allowed occupants to use their bright and airy attics as second-floor living spaces while circumventing a higher tax bracket.