It is a red brick building with white Italianate trim and black shutters. It was designed in an irregular plan by Calvert Vaux, an architect who had moved to America in 1850 to work with Andrew Jackson Downing and would later work with Frederick Law Olmsted. Vaux was 34 years old, and working independently after Downing's death, when he prepared plans for Ammadelle in 1857. That Vaux thought Ammadelle was one of his best works is suggested by his inclusion of a similar design in the second and third editions of his book Villas and Cottages.
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It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974.