Formerly named "The Braes" (Scottish for "hillside"), it was the country estate of Herbert L. Pratt, the son of Charles Pratt, an early oil magnate and founder of Pratt Institute.
The structure was built between 1912 and 1914 in the Jacobean Tudor style.
It was purchased in 1945 by the Webb Institute, a private college that specializes only in naval architecture and marine engineering.