The whimsical house at 71 Carlton Street in the Cottage Farm neighborhood in Brookline was built for John Wales in around 1886. George Wales worked as treasurer of John Wales & Company, a hardware business located on High Street in Boston. The home was designed by architect William Whitney Lewis, an English born architect who attended school at MIT and later worked in the office of Cummings & Sears, where he held many commissions for houses in the Back Bay. The Wales House features an asymmetrical facade with exceptional decorative effects through the use of brick and terra cotta ornament, corner oriel, and shingles.