The Allyn House stands in the Arlington Heights neighborhood, on the southeast side of Oakland Avenue roughly midway between Cedar Avenue and Gray Street. It occupies an irregular diamond-shaped lot, and is (unlike its neighbors) oriented at an angle to the street. The front of the lot is demarcated by a low rubblestone wall. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a stuccoed exterior and brown wooden trim. It has a hip roof with extended eaves, punctuated by hip-roofed dormers with shingled sides. Its front facade is dominated by a full-height polygonal bay, with a band of narrow casement windows in the center section, and single windows on the angled sides. Other Craftsman details include exposed rafter ends and a number of diamond-pane windows.[2]
Significant development in the Arlington Heights area began following the 1872 purchase of the Pierce family properties by the Arlington Land Company.[3] The lot this house stands on was among the Arlington Land Company holdings, and the house was built about 1898. It was owned for many years by Phillip M. Allyn, a publisher who worked in Boston. It is a particularly fine local example of Craftsman architecture.[2]
