The Benjamin West Birthplace is a two-and-a half story stone house, constructed of random ashlar, with a gambrel roof, with two dormers on a side, and two internal gable-end brick chimneys. A one bay pedimented entrance porch extends from the center of the front facade. These features, with the exception of the dormers, appear in an early nineteenth century lithograph of the house. The reported date of construction is 1724. In 1874, the house was gutted by fire, and the present interior dates from the subsequent renovation, leaving the exterior as the sole remainder with historic integrity. On the northern end of the house there is a one story extension that was added after 1874, as was the pent roof that runs around the house at the second floor level. A glassed-in porch on the rear facade also dates from the later period.
The house stands on what is now the Swarthmore College campus and is used as a faculty residence. It faces across a parking lot and Chester Road onto an open green, while the other three sides look on the grounds and buildings of the college. - NRHP, 25 September 1974