The Kaufman house was constructed in 1953 at an estimated cost of $42,000. The original owner was Lester Kaufman, and the contractor was Ivan L. Anderson. The architectural firm, Marx, Flint, and Schonne, was from Chicago, and Samuel A. Marx also designed the furniture for the house. Marx (1885 to 1964), born in Natchez, Mississippi, received his bachelor's degree in 1907 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, until 1909.