The William L. Barclay House is a Queen Anne–style residence with Romanesque details, designed by architect Mortimer L. Smith. The two-and-one-half-story brick house features an end-gable roof, an off-center recessed entrance surmounted by a second-story arched loggia, and a round, three-story corner tower.

The property was transferred to the Detroit YMCA in 1926 by its second owner and served as the Hudson School for Boys during the 1930s. In 1942, the YMCA sold the house to the Nu Omega Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, which still owns it today.