The Birches is a one-and-a-half-story, rectangular, gable-roofed frame building that is sheathed entirely in wood shingles. It has an enclosed, shallow hip-roofed front porch and an eyebrow dormer on one side of its broad roof. A two-car garage located off the southwest corner of the house, as well as its present concrete foundation, are of more recent construction.
Facing west, the building’s front elevation features a nearly full-width, three-bay porch framed by the broad gable of the roof. Originally constructed as an open porch, it has been enclosed with a storm door and a pair of one-over-one storm windows in the center bay, and trios of storm windows in the flanking bays and along the sides. The posts and balustrade wall of the porch are covered in shingles that match those on the main body of the house. Behind the porch is a wide central doorway flanked by pairs of six-over-six double-hung windows.
Immediately above the porch roof and centered below the gable peak is a set of four small six-over-six windows, recessed from the wall surface, which curves inward to meet them. In addition to the porch alterations noted above, the original wide steps and balustrade have been replaced, and sections of the porch balustrade that once flanked the steps and featured slat detailing have been filled in.
The north side elevation has a symmetrical fenestration pattern comprised of pairs of six-over-six windows near the northeast and northwest corners, with a trio of six-over-six windows between them. A fieldstone chimney punctuates the roof near the midpoint of the structure.
On the south elevation, the paired windows are repeated in the same locations as on the north side; however, the central section of the wall is occupied by a recessed porch that has been enclosed with a storm door and large four-pane storm windows. Spanning this central area and located about one-third of the way up the roof slope is the eyebrow dormer, which contains five windowpanes of varying size.
The rear elevation features paired six-over-six windows on the first story, separated by a ribbon window composed of four small three-over-three windows. On the upper level is a set of five six-over-six windows. A recently installed concrete block flue serving the furnace rises between the southeast paired windows and the first-story ribbon windows.
The interior of The Birches is virtually intact and is particularly notable for its varnished tongue-and-groove sheathing on walls and ceilings. The central great hall, open to the ceiling, contains a large stone fireplace and a balcony that wraps around all four sides of the space.
In plan, a short hallway separates the two front rooms, which are lit by paired windows behind the porch and along the side elevations. This hallway leads into the great hall, which occupies the central portion of the house. The fireplace is located on the north side of the hall and is flanked on the west by a recessed doorway opening into the kitchen, originally a sleeping porch.
The secondary entrance and recessed porch are located opposite the fireplace, and the stairway to the balcony is positioned at the southeast corner of the great hall. Behind the stairway, occupying the eastern third of the house, are two bedrooms separated by a pair of bathrooms – one opening off the hall and the other from the southeast bedroom.
The second story contains two additional bedrooms and a third bathroom, as well as a niche beneath the eyebrow dormer. Window and door surrounds are composed of symmetrically molded trim with corner blocks. The stair and balcony balusters are turned, as is the main newel post. Wainscoting is employed only in the hallways and the great hall, and several original light fixtures remain in the house.